大腸癌肝転移形成早期において, Kupffer 細胞は転移抑制的に機能する.

抄録

In this study, to clarify the role of Kupff er cells (KCs) in the liver metastasis, we eliminated KCs at diff erent time points before or after injection of tumor cells (TCs). Our results suggested that the role of KCs was suppressive especially in the early stage of liver metastasis. In addition, we used intravital microscopy (IVM) to analyze the sinusoidal dynamics of both KCs and TCs in colon cancer metastasis to the liver. IVM showed that TCs adhered to KCs from the early time after TC injection. The KCs phagocytosed the TCs, which adhered with the KCs. It is suggested that KC phagocytosis of TCs in the early stage of liver metastasis strongly suppressed the formation of the liver metastatic nodules thereafter.