Cardiovascular Medicine
- Reseach development focused on the needs of the patients
- Elucidation of pathogenic mechanisms and pathology of cardiovascular diseases using state-of-the-art techniques
- Transfer of research results from bench to bedside
Our research aims at the development of novel diagnostic, preventive and therapeutic methods, starting from the bedside and leading to the clarification of the etiology and pathology of patient relevant diseases
In order to follow our maxim and reach our goal to deliver cardiovascular medical services from Osaka to patients throughout world, we aim to postulate proper hypotheses, identify etiologies, clarify pathological conditions, and apply our findings to clinical practice.
Figure 1
1.Postulate and present proper hypotheses rooted in clinical practice
(Clinical Research Question Elucidation Group/Multicenter Study Group).
Each disease case shows differences from patient to patient and requires the proper postulation of a universal hypothesis and the cooperation between hospitals as part of multicenter research.
2.Identify genes underlying the pathogenesis of diseases
(Molecular Genetics and Drug Discovery Group /Division of Medical Therapeutics for Heart Failure).
We participate in the clinical genome medical database project led by the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) as a major cardiovascular research center in the Initiative on Rare and Undiagnosed Diseases (IRUD) project and the genomic information database of hereditary cardiovascular diseases. In collaboration with cooperating hospitals, we are also studying the identification of novel pathogenic genes and investigating the relationship between clinical phenotypes and genotypes.
3.Analyze cell and metabolic function and elucidate the pathology of cardiovascular diseases
(Molecular Cardiology Group/Molecular Genetics and Drug Discovery Group/ Division of Medical Therapeutics for Heart Failure /Laboratory of Cardiovascular Lipidology and Atherosclerosis)
We aim to elucidate the pathology of cardiovascular diseases and try to identify novel therapeutic targets. We focus on the investigation of cellular functions in cardiovascular diseases, including DNA damage response (1), lipid metabolism (2), autophagy (3, 8), mitochondrial respiratory chain activity regulation (4, 5), and blood vessel growth signaling (6,7).
4.Translate and return the results of our basic research to the clinical setting through the development of novel technologies
(Cardiovascular Regenerative Medicine/Translational Research Group/Laboratory of Cardiovascular Lipidology and Atherosclerosis/Medical Device Development Group/Division of Medical Therapeutics for Heart Failure).
As part of the AMED regenerative medicine realization project, we are conducting a study on the safety of transplantation therapy of allogeneic adipose tissue-derived multi-lineage progenitor cells for severe familial hypercholesterolemia. We are also involved in research regarding regenerative medicine and clinical application of genomic editing technology. In addition, we are working on the development of medical devices based on medical-industry collaboration. We furthermore are involved in the accumulation of biological samples from patients such as blood and myocardial tissue specimens as well as are working on the construction of a gene expression database of defective myocardial tissues. Finally, we are involved in the establishment of disease specific iPS cells. Utilizing these various precious biological samples we hope to promote research that will ultimately benefit and help our patients.
References
１．Higo et al. Nat Commun. 2017 in press
２．Hsieh, Koseki et al. Nature 14;535(7611):303-7, 2016.
３．Murakawa et al. Nat Commun. 6:7527, 2015.
４．Hayashi et al. PNAS 12(5)1553–1558, 2015.
５．Kioka et al. PNAS 7;111(1):273-8, 2014.
６．Arita et al. Nat Commun 29; 5: 4552, 2014.
７．Hashimoto-Kataoka et al. PNAS 19; 112(20): E2677-86, 2015.
８．Oka et al. Nature 485:251-5, 2012.
