News Releases & Research Results Increased BACH1 protein function serves as a switch that promotes pancreatic cancer metastasis.

Results of collaborative research conducted by PhD Masaki Sato and Professor Michiaki Unno of the Department of Surgery, Professor Kazuhiko Igarashi and Assistant Professor Mitsuyo Matsumoto of the Department of Biochemistry, Associate Professor Yuriko Saiki of the Office of Medical Education, Professor Keiko Nakayama of United Centers for Advanced Research and Translational Medicine, and Professor Yukinari Kato of the Department of Antibody Drug Development of Tohoku University School of Medicine, Mamoru Ito, PhD of Central Institute for Experimental Animals, and others.

• BACH1 protein, a transcription factor (a member of a protein family that modulates gene expression), promotes pancreatic cancer metastasis in humans.
• In highly malignant human pancreatic cancer cells, BACH1 function is promoted.
• These research results suggest BACH1 could be a target for a new pancreatic cancer treatment strategy.

This research project was conducted with the support of Basis for Supporting Innovative Drug Discovery and Life Science Research (BINDS) by AMED.

These research results were published online in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, on January 9.
 

Sato M., et al. BACH1 promotes pancreatic cancer metastasis by repressing epithelial genes and enhancing epithelial-mesenchymal transition Cancer Research
DOI：10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-18-4099