公開日 2025年11月05日
第284回 遺伝子機能解析部門セミナー
(第411回 細胞工学研究会講演会)
日時:2025年11月18日(火)16:50〜18:30
会場:島根大学生物資源科学部3号館2階202講義室
演題:Probing genome-wide gene network to elucidate mode of action of
chemotherapeutic drug combination
演者:Ee-Sin Chen 准教授(シンガポール国立大学生化学部)
司会:川向 誠(島根大学生物資源科学部)
要旨:
Contemporary medical treatments such as anti−cancer chemotherapy entails the use of combination of multiple drugs. This approach is based on the synthetic lethality principle that involves concurrently targeting synergistically acting physiological pathways to bring about cumulative efficacy over that achievable by single drugs. These pathways are rather discrete, constituted by proteins expressed from genes in the genome that are widely depicted in the text−book knowledge taught to undergraduate students.
However, in actual scenario, genes transcribed from eukaryotic genomes are organized into a much more expanded complex network, much of the time between unsuspected genes present in seemingly unrelated pathways.
Such complexity may underlie bypass mechanisms that confer development of resistance to the prescribed pharmacological drugs.
Several years ago, our lab used fission yeast as a model to attempt to visualize the gene network that underlies resistance against the chemotherapeutic drug doxorubicin, a topoisomerase II inhibitor.
From the study, we observed that genes encoding previously unsuspected factors such as coenzyme Q10 biosynthesis pathway and centromeric determinant CENP−A histone H3 variant were functionally interacting with topoisomerase II to confer tolerance towards doxorubicin.
Subsequent analysis dawned on us that the “doxorubicin−resistance” network is actually a more ’generic’ one that coordinates responsiveness toward multiple environmental stressors including drugs of unrelated mode of action and inorganic factors such as cations. Further, we were surprised to find out such gene network appeared to also be conserved, thus permitting us to employ fission yeast model to predict new drug combination efficacious in human cancers, importantly, before understanding the actual mechanism of action. I will discuss one such combination between doxorubicin, SAHA and cisplatin, later found to act via disrupting the target of rapamycin (TOR)−regulated protein synthesis of DNA damage response factors to result in persistent presence of DNA damage for apoptosis induction in human gastric cancer cells.
*補足説明
講演者は元京都大・柳田充弘教授指導の下、日本で学位を取得した人物で、日本語もかな
り理解できる人物ですが、英語がメインの講演です。染色体分配の制御機構や抗がん剤の1つとして知ら
れるドキソルビシンの酵母を使った薬剤耐性スクリーニングなどの研究を進めています。アジアの中でも
上位にランキングされるシンガポール大学で、活躍している人物です。今回は CoQ10 の定量法を習うた
めに島根大学に来られました。
お問い合わせ : 島根大学 総合科学研究支援センター・遺伝子機能解析部門 細胞工学研
究会事務局 ( 0852-32-6109)
(第411回 細胞工学研究会講演会)
日時:2025年11月18日(火)16:50〜18:30
会場:島根大学生物資源科学部3号館2階202講義室
演題:Probing genome-wide gene network to elucidate mode of action of
chemotherapeutic drug combination
演者:Ee-Sin Chen 准教授(シンガポール国立大学生化学部)
司会:川向 誠(島根大学生物資源科学部)
要旨:
Contemporary medical treatments such as anti−cancer chemotherapy entails the use of combination of multiple drugs. This approach is based on the synthetic lethality principle that involves concurrently targeting synergistically acting physiological pathways to bring about cumulative efficacy over that achievable by single drugs. These pathways are rather discrete, constituted by proteins expressed from genes in the genome that are widely depicted in the text−book knowledge taught to undergraduate students.
However, in actual scenario, genes transcribed from eukaryotic genomes are organized into a much more expanded complex network, much of the time between unsuspected genes present in seemingly unrelated pathways.
Such complexity may underlie bypass mechanisms that confer development of resistance to the prescribed pharmacological drugs.
Several years ago, our lab used fission yeast as a model to attempt to visualize the gene network that underlies resistance against the chemotherapeutic drug doxorubicin, a topoisomerase II inhibitor.
From the study, we observed that genes encoding previously unsuspected factors such as coenzyme Q10 biosynthesis pathway and centromeric determinant CENP−A histone H3 variant were functionally interacting with topoisomerase II to confer tolerance towards doxorubicin.
Subsequent analysis dawned on us that the “doxorubicin−resistance” network is actually a more ’generic’ one that coordinates responsiveness toward multiple environmental stressors including drugs of unrelated mode of action and inorganic factors such as cations. Further, we were surprised to find out such gene network appeared to also be conserved, thus permitting us to employ fission yeast model to predict new drug combination efficacious in human cancers, importantly, before understanding the actual mechanism of action. I will discuss one such combination between doxorubicin, SAHA and cisplatin, later found to act via disrupting the target of rapamycin (TOR)−regulated protein synthesis of DNA damage response factors to result in persistent presence of DNA damage for apoptosis induction in human gastric cancer cells.
*補足説明
講演者は元京都大・柳田充弘教授指導の下、日本で学位を取得した人物で、日本語もかな
り理解できる人物ですが、英語がメインの講演です。染色体分配の制御機構や抗がん剤の1つとして知ら
れるドキソルビシンの酵母を使った薬剤耐性スクリーニングなどの研究を進めています。アジアの中でも
上位にランキングされるシンガポール大学で、活躍している人物です。今回は CoQ10 の定量法を習うた
めに島根大学に来られました。
お問い合わせ : 島根大学 総合科学研究支援センター・遺伝子機能解析部門 細胞工学研
究会事務局 ( 0852-32-6109)