Ikuko Okubo

Mrs. Ikuko Okubo


Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

4Years (2023-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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Verified
Journal Article
Open access
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SYShunpei Yamanaka
Shunpei Yamanaka
SSSusumu Suzuki
Susumu Suzuki
HIHideaki Ito
Hideaki Ito
KSKarnan Sivasundaram
Karnan Sivasundaram
IHIchiro Hanamura
Ichiro Hanamura
Yasushi FujimotoYasushi Fujimoto
Yasushi Fujimoto
Patients with advanced/recurrent mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC) have a poor prognosis. This study aimed to establish and characterize human mucoepidermoid carcinoma cell lines from the initial surgical specimen and biopsy specimen upon recurrence from the same patient to provide a resource for MEC research. MEC specimens from the initial surgical procedure and biopsy upon recurrence were used to establish cell lines. The established cell lines were cytogenetically characterized using multi-color fluorescence in situ hybridization and detection, and the sequence of the CRTC1-MAML2 chimeric gene was determined. Furthermore, the susceptibility of head and neck mucoepidermoid carcinoma to standard treatment drugs such as cisplatin, 5-fluorouracil, and cetuximab was investigated. We successfully established unique MEC cell lines, AMU-MEC1, from an initial surgical specimen and AMU-MEC1-R1 and AMU-MEC1-R2 from the recurrent biopsy specimen in the same patient. These cell lines exhibited epithelial morphology and developed in vitro-like cobblestones. They shared eight chromosomal abnormalities, including der(19)ins(19;11)(p13;?), which resulted in a chimeric CRTC1-MAML2 gene, indicating the same origin of the cell lines. The susceptibility of all cell lines to cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil was low. Interestingly, EGFR dependency for cell growth decreased in AMU-MEC-R1 and AMU-MEC-R2 but was retained in AMU-MEC1. These cytogenetic and biochemical findings suggest that the established cell lines can be used to investigate the disease progression mechanisms and develop novel therapeutics for MEC.

2 September 2026 in Human Cell
Verified
Journal Article
Closed access
PDF file
SSSusumu Suzuki
Susumu Suzuki
HIHideaki Ito
Hideaki Ito
IOIkuko Okubo
Ikuko Okubo
HUHitoshi Uga
Hitoshi Uga
NINiina Iwanaga
Niina Iwanaga
TOTetsuya Ogawa
Tetsuya Ogawa