Molecular Oncology Project

Most cancers originate from epithelial cells. Normal epithelial cells share a common property called "cell polarity," but abnormalities in cell polarity are frequently observed in cancer tissues. Our research group focuses on cell polarity, the essential feature of epithelial cells, to clarify why cancer cells have abnormalities in cell polarity and in the proteins that regulate cell polarity. Our research group aims to understand cancer cells from a biological perspective by addressing the question. We believe that we can develop new cancer treatments and therapeutic drugs if we truly understand cancer cells as living organisms.

Publication

1. Saito Y, Murata-Kamiya N, Ohba Y, Hirayama T, Hatakeyama M. (2010) Conversion of Helicobacter pylori CagA from senescence inducer to oncogenic driver through polarity-dependent regulation of p21. J. Exp. Med. 207:2157-2174.
2. Saito Y, Desai RR, Muthuswamy SK. (2018) Reinterpreting Polarity and Cancer: The changing landscape from tumor suppression to tumor promotion. BBA Reviews on Cancer 1869:103-116.
3. Saito Y, Li L, Coyaud E, Luna A, Sander C, Raught B, Asara JM, Brown M, Muthuswamy SK. (2019) LLGL2 rescues nutrient stress by promoting Leu uptake in ER+ breast cancer. Nature 569:275-279.
4. Saito Y*, Matsuda S, Ohnishi N, Endo K, Ashitani S, Ohishi M, Ueno A, Tomita M, Ueda K, Soga T*, Muthuswamy SK.* (2022) Polarity protein SCRIB interacts with SLC3A2 to regulate proliferation and tamoxifen resistance in breast cancer. Commun. Biol. 5:403.* Corresponding authors

Link

Research Group Website：http://saitolab.info/

Yasuhiro Saito
Project Associate Professor