• Application of C. elegans cancer screening test for the detection of pancreatic tumor in genetically engineered mice (Oncotarget, 2019).

    In collaboration with Osaka University (Prof Yuichiro Doki), Ueda et al. studied the mechanism of usefulness of Caenorhabditis elegans in the detection of cancer by urine. The genetically-engineered mice were used in the present study, which will facilitate further studies on mechanism of cancer detection by liquid biopsy in human.

  • A gemcitabine prodrug for selective treatment of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (ChemMedChem, 2019, in press)
    In the collaboration with the Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Osaka University (Prof. Satoshi Obika), Matsushita, et al. developed a  gemcitabine prodrug. Given that the major concern in the use of anticancer chemotherapeutic drugs is host toxicity, this study will contribute to improve the treatment of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

  • Significant epitranscriptomes in heterogeneous cancer (Cancer Sci, 2019, in press)

    The significance of cancer RNA modification is updated and discussed and the implication is emerged in In this review article, by referring previous reports. The recent progress of epitranscriptomes (ETR) detection methods, and biological findings regarding the significance of ETR is emerged in cancer precision medicine.

  • Direct analysis of incorporation of an anticancer drug into DNA at single-molecule resolution (Scientific Reports, 2019).

    Ohshiro et al. published the novel methods and technology to study sequencing of DNA, in which trifluridine (FTD) is incorporated, at single-molecule resolution.

  • Mitochondrial pyruvate carrier 1 expression controls cancer EMT and radioresistance (Cancer Sci, 2019) 
    In the collaboration with the Department of Radiation Oncology, Osaka University (Prof. Kazuhiko Ogawa), Takaoka, et al. investigated the mitochondrial pyruvate carriers (MPCs), key molecules in glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation, and showed that they played critical roles in cancer metastasis. The phenomenon of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) was evaluated in the MPC-modified cells. The present study demonstrate that the MPCs are involved in the malignant behavior of epithelial cancer as therapeutic targets.
  • Disruption of endolysosomal pathway efficiently eliminates colorectal cancer stem cells (Cancer Research, 2019).
    Takeda and Haraguchi published the novel discovery of colorectal cancer stem cells, as a collaboration.

  • Semaphorin signaling via MICAL3 induces symmetric cell division to expand breast cancer stem-like cells (PNAS, 2019).

    Tomonaga and Gotoh at Kanazawa University published the novel discovery of Semaphorin signaling in the study of breast cancer stem cells, as a collaboration.

  • AI for medical use (Oncotarget, 2019)
    Konno and Ishii have updated the AI issues for medical use. The recent progress and reports indicate the potential of the medical diagnosis and treatment using AI, which will be recognized in the near future.  
  • Drug discovery of anticancer drugs targeting methylenetetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase 2 (Heliyon, in press)
    In collaboration with Osaka University (Profs Masaki Mori and Yuichiro Doki) and Kanazawa University (Prof Noriko Gotoh), Asai et al. demonstrated that methylenetetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase 2 (MTHFD2), an enzyme in one carbon metabolism, played a role in cancer cell metabolism and showed several candidate tool compounds for drug discovery. The findings of the present study will help to develop anticancer drugs targeting MTHFD2, with a view to minimizing the adverse effects of anticancer drugs.
  • Polyamine flux suppresses histone lysine demethylases and enhances ID1 expression in cancer stem cells （Cell Death Discovery, 2018, in press)
    In collaboration with the Department of Radiation Oncology, Osaka University (Prof. Kazuhiko Ogawa), Tamari et al. revealed details of metabolic pathways that drive epigenetic control of cancer cell stemness and determine effective therapeutic targets in cancer stem cells (CSCs). The study indicated that intracellular polyamines inhibited the activity of histone lysine 4 demethylase enzymes, including lysine-specific demethylase-1 (LSD1), and demonstrated the significance in drug discovery.