Professor Koichi MATSUDA
Associate Professor Chizu Tanikawa【Key Words】genome, cancer, p53, Large scale cohort, SNP
In spite of the recent progress in preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic modalities, deaths due to various cancers are still increasing. The aim of our research group is "The prevention and control of cancer". The major project in our laboratory is "the isolation of disease-related genes through genomic analysis". Family history is acknowledged to be one of the strong risk factors for various diseases including cancers. To identify genes of medical importance, we conducted genome-wide association analyses using several thousands of samples. As a result, we have isolated various gene related with disease susceptibility, drug response, and laboratory test. We would like to achieve personalized medical treatment based on these findings.
The other project is "functional analysis of p53 tumor suppressor gene". Mutations in the p53 gene are the most common genetic alteration observed in human cancers. Since about 90% of them were detected within its DNA-binding domain, the crucial function of p53 is considered as a sequence-specific transcription factor. We have identified a number of p53-target genes and elucidated the molecular mechanism whereby p53 regulate carcinogenic pathway. Our current project is identification of novel p53-target gene through proteome, transcriptome and genomic approach. Please refer to our home page for additional information (http://square.umin.ac.jp/matsudalab/.
