The 761st MIB Seminar
(Joint Usage/Research Center for the Multi-stratified Host Defense System)
[Seminar in English]
Title
Don’t misbehave: reprogramming cell fates in the regulation of stem cells and cancer
Speaker
Takahiro Ito, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
University of Georgia, Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Date
Jan. 29 (Mon), 2018
14：30～15：30
Venue
Seminar Room, Main Building 1F, Medical Institute of Bioregulation
No.26 on the following linked map.
（http://www.kyushu-u.ac.jp/f/30074/Hospital_en-2017.pdf）
Abstract
Stem cells and cancer share a characteristic ability of self-renewal, which is essential for long-term maintenance of both cell types in vivo. Similar to a hierarchy of stem and progenitor cells in normal tissues, many types of tumors are maintained by a population of self-renewing cancer cells while the bulk of the tumor is consisted of more differentiated cells with no or limited renewal activity. The self-renewing cancer cells, or tumor-initiating cells, are often resistant to conventional therapies and thereby mediate tumor relapse and provide a basis for cancer progression. Because the ability to self-renew is modulated via cell fate decision, the regulatory mechanisms of stem cell fates have emerged as one of the promising areas for targeted cancer therapies. We are particularly interested in the cell fate regulatory circuits governed by RNA binding proteins and cell metabolism, and I would like to share our recent findings on how these factors maintain self-renewal potential and contribute to cancer progression.
Publications
Hattori A. et al. Cancer progression by reprogrammed BCAA metabolism in myeloid leukemia. Nature 545, 500-504 (2017)
Contact
Medical Institute of Bioregulation
Yusaku Nakabeppu
Tel：092-642-6800