分子生物学の肺癌検診への応用

摘要

ヒトゲノム塩基配列の概要が明らかにされたことにより遺伝子·蛋白質の双方向から網羅的解析が行われようとしている．このような戦略に基づく解析は極めて癌特異的な分子の検出·同定を可能にし，今までの腫瘍マーカーの概念を越えたEarly detectionを可能にするバイオマーカーの存在を予見させる．理想的にはバイオマーカーとなりうる候補分子とは限られた正常組織に分布し，正常組織では発現量が少なく，癌組織に極めて高発現する分子で，しかも腫瘍細胞が分泌し血中·尿中などで検出可能な分子と考えられる．このような分子の探索が現在勢力的に進められようとしている．本稿では筆者らが多少関与している肺癌のプロテオーム（proteome）解析を中心に，検診に応用することを目標にした新しいバイオマーカー探索の現況について言及する．Comprehensive analysis of both human genes and proteins has been started based upon the establishment of human genome database. Proteomics is the science by which proteins are investigated with regard to their roles as functional elements. Many researchers believe that proteomics will play a dominant role in life science in post genome age. Though we often use 'post genome' as a technical term, it would be more precise to say that at present we are in the age of the post genome sequence, and that we now stand at the entrance to the age of functional analysis in molecular level. The clarification of the human genome sequence is one of the most critical events in life science, and sequentially the final results of the human genome sequence are accelerating overall analysis of human gene products. In this context, there is a high possibility that tumor-specific molecules could be used in the early detection of malignant neoplasms. Ideal biomarkers would be distributed to very little in normal tissues but much in a cancerous tissue. Now we attempt to investigate proteomes associated with lung cancer. In this manuscript we describe the present status of proteomic analysis concerning lung cancer and the exploration for novel tumor-specific biomarkers aiming at the early diagnosis of lung cancer.