Tumor cell enrichment by tissue suspension improves sensitivity to copy number variation in diffuse gastric cancer with low tumor content.

The detection of copy number variations (CNVs) and somatic mutations in cancer is important for the selection of specific drugs for patients with cancer. In cancers with sporadic tumor cells, low tumor content prevents the accurate detection of somatic alterations using targeted sequencing. To efficiently identify CNVs, we performed tumor cell enrichment using tissue suspensions of formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue sections with low tumor cell content.

Establishment of mouse line showing inducible priapism-like phenotypes.

Purpose: Penile research is expected to reveal new targets for treatment and prevention of the complex mechanisms of its disorder including erectile dysfunction (ED). Thus, analyses of the molecular processes of penile ED and continuous erection as priapism are essential issues of reproductive medicine.

Methods: By performing mouse N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea mutagenesis and exome sequencing, we established a novel mouse line displaying protruded genitalia phenotype (PGP; priapism-like phenotype) and identified a novel gene mutation for PGP.

Early embryonic mutations reveal dynamics of somatic and germ cell lineages in mice.

De novo mutations accumulate with zygotic cell divisions. However, the occurrence of these mutations and the way they are inherited by somatic cells and germ cells remain unclear. Here, we present a novel method to reconstruct cell lineages.

Tumor cell enrichment by tissue suspension enables detection of mutations with low variant allele frequency and estimation of germline mutations.

Targeted sequencing offers an opportunity to select specific drugs for cancer patients based on alterations in their genome. However, accurate sequencing cannot be performed in cancers harboring diffuse tumor cells because of low tumor content. We performed tumor cell enrichment using tissue suspension of formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue sections with low tumor cell content.

Study of the physicochemical properties of drugs suitable for administration using a lymphatic drug delivery system.

Lymph node (LN) metastasis is thought to account for 20-30% of deaths from head and neck cancer. The lymphatic drug delivery system (LDDS) is a new technology that enables the injection of drugs into a sentinel LN (SLN) during the early stage of tumor metastasis to treat the SLN and secondary metastatic LNs. However, the optimal physicochemical properties of the solvent used to carry the drug have not been determined.