Involvement of cytoglobin-expressing mesenchymal cells in cancer development

在包括日本在内的发达国家，乳腺癌的发病率一直在上升，并已成为一个世界性的健康问题。为了阐明细胞珠蛋白（Cygb）在体内的分子功能，我们产生了Cygb缺陷小鼠。令人惊讶的是，我们观察到自发发展的乳腺癌和淋巴瘤的Cygb缺陷的雌性小鼠在高发病率相比，可以忽略不计的检测，这样的肿瘤在野生型小鼠。基于这些发现，我们研究了导致乳腺癌发展的分子事件，特别是上皮细胞和间充质细胞之间的相互作用。

Incidence of breast cancer has been increasing in developed countries including Japan and has become a world-wide health problem. To clarify the molecular function of cytoglobin(Cygb) in vivo, we generated Cygb-deficient mice. Surprisingly, we observed the spontaneous development of breast cancer and lymphoma in Cygb-deficient female mice at high incidence compared to the negligible detection of such tumors in wild-type mice. Based on these findings, we studied the molecular events leading to breast cancer development in Cygb-deficiency with special regards to the interaction between epithelial cells and mesenchymal cells.