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department
department
Division / Integrated Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences
Department of Dermatology and Plastic Surgery
Great Departments / Sensory and Motor Organ Sciences
Website
Staff
Professor FUKUSHIMA Satoshi
Lecturer AOI Jun
Assistant Professor KAJIHARA Ikko
Assistant Professor KASHIWADA Kayo
Research theme

1.micro RNA in collagen diseases and skin diseases Recently, epigenetics has attracted attention for its involvement in the various cellular behaviors and cell functions. microRNAs (miRNAs),short RNA molecules on average only 22 nucleotides long, play as the post-transcriptional regulators that bind to complementary sequences of target mRNAs, leading to the inhibition of translation. As previously reported, miRNAs have been implicated in the pathogenesis of various human diseases, such as immunological disorders, cancers, and metabolic disorders. However, little is known about the role of miRNAs in skin diseases. In previous study, we investigated the possibility that miRNAs may be involved in the pathogenesis of skin diseases. Clarifying the regulatory mechanisms of miRNAs may lead to develop new serum marker and therapeutic drugs by transfection into involved skin in vivo.

2.We have conducted a study of immune cell therapy using iPS cells. The benefit of our method is that a large number of cells can be readily obtained, and it is able to express additional function on immune cells by genetic modification. We made an attempt to evaluate the potential of iPS cells as anti-cancer effector cells using genetically modification to express type I IFNs. We reported that iPS cell-derived immune cells expressing type I IFNs could exert therapeutic effects against peritoneally disseminated malignant melanoma in xenograft models. Though a further preclinical study for the establishment of the safety is necessary, this method will bring rays of hope for the patients with malignant melanoma.