細菌の「DNAを切るハサミ」によるヒトゲノムの書き換えががんを起こすことを発見

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2025-09-08 東京大学

東京大学らの研究チームは、ピロリ菌が持つ制限酵素「HpPabI」がヒトのDNAに変異と切断を引き起こし、がんの原因となる可能性があることを発見しました。この酵素はDNAから特定の塩基(アデニン)を最初に切り出す「塩基切り出し型」という新型タイプで、ゲノム再編や点変異を誘発します。世界50地域から収集した胃がん患者由来のピロリ菌にこの酵素が多く存在していたこと、また感染実験でもヒトゲノムの損傷が確認されました。本成果は、がんの初期発生メカニズム解明に貢献し、今後のがん予防や治療への新たな展開が期待されます。

細菌の「DNAを切るハサミ」によるヒトゲノムの書き換えががんを起こすことを発見
ピロリ菌が胃がんを起こすしくみ
ピロリ菌が作る制限酵素(DNAを切るハサミ)が,ヒトの胃の細胞に入りこみ,ゲノムDNAの特定の場所で塩基を切り出して,点変異と鎖切断によるゲノム再編を起こす。それらが胃がんの元になる。

<関連情報>

胃癌発生におけるヘリコバクター・ピロリ塩基切除制限酵素 Helicobacter pylori base-excision restriction enzyme in stomach carcinogenesis

Masaki Fukuyo, Noriko Takahashi, Katsuhiro Hanada, Ken Ishikawa, Česlovas Venclovas, Koji Yahara, Hideo Yonezawa, Takeshi Terabayashi, Yukako Katsura, Naoki Osada …
PNAS Nexus  Published:05 August 2025
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgaf244

Abstract

Many recent lines of evidence from the human microbiome and other fields indicate bacterial involvement in various types of cancer. Helicobacter pylori has been recognized as the major cause of stomach cancer (gastric cancer), but the mechanism by which it destabilizes the human genome to cause cancer remains unclear. Our recent studies have identified a unique family of toxic restriction enzymes that excise a base (A: adenine) from their recognition sequence (5′-GTAC). At the resulting abasic sites (5′-GT_C), its inherent endonuclease activity or that of a separate endonuclease may yield atypical strand breaks that resist repair by ligation. Here, we present evidence demonstrating involvement of its H. pylori member, HpPabI, in stomach carcinogenesis: (i) Association of intact HpPabI gene with gastric cancer in the global H. pylori Genome Project and the open genomes; (ii) Frequent mutations at A in 5′-GTAC in the gastric cancer genomes as well as in H. pylori genomes; (iii) Its induction of chromosomal double-strand breaks in infected human cells and of mutagenesis in bacterial test systems. In addition, its unique regions that interact with DNA exhibit signs of diversifying selection. Our further analysis revealed similar oncogenic bacterium–restriction–enzyme pairs for other types of cancer. These results set another stage for cancer research and medicine around oncogenic restriction enzymes.

細胞遺伝子工学
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