The University of Tokyo · Medicine
Professor Kent Doi's research lab focuses on critical care medicine, with a primary emphasis on acute kidney injury (AKI) and its systemic complications in sepsis and other critical illnesses. The lab investigates the pathophysiological mechanisms linking AKI to distant organ dysfunction—particularly cardiorenal crosstalk—using advanced animal models and translational approaches. A key direction involves identifying and validating novel biomarkers for early diagnosis and prognosis prediction in critically ill patients. The lab also explores repurposed drugs and host-directed therapies targeting key molecular pathways, such as TMPRSS2 inhibition in viral infections and mitochondrial dynamics in organ injury.
Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.
Sepsis is characterized by a severe inflammatory response to infection, and its complications, including acute kidney injury, can be fatal. Animal models that correctly mimic human disease are extremely valuable because they hasten the development of clinically useful therapeutics. Too often, however, animal models do not properly mimic human disease. In this Review, we outline a bedside-to-bench-to-bedside approach that has resulted in improved animal models for the study of sepsis - a complex
Although diagnosis and staging of acute kidney injury uses serum creatinine, acute changes in creatinine lag behind both renal injury and recovery. The risk for mortality increases when acute kidney injury accompanies sepsis; therefore, we sought to explore the limitations of serum creatinine in this setting. In mice, induction of sepsis by cecal ligation and puncture in bilaterally nephrectomized mice increased markers of nonrenal organ injury and serum TNF-alpha. Serum creatinine, however, was
This prospective observational study with a cohort of heterogeneous patients treated in a mixed intensive care unit revealed that new acute kidney injury biomarkers have a significantly and moderately predictive use for acute kidney injury diagnosis and that urinary L-type fatty acid-binding protein and neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin can serve as new biomarkers of mortality prediction in critical care.
Development of specific therapy against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is urgently required. Several drugs such as antimalarial and anti-Ebola virus drugs are under investigation for coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19). Transmembrane protease serine 2 (TMPRSS2) plays a crucial role for SARS-CoV-2 entry into the cytoplasm [1]. Inhibition of TMPRSS2 protease activity is assumed to prohibit viral entry of SARS-CoV-2. Through high-throughput screening of 1017 existing d
Experimental evidence has clarified distant organ dysfunctions induced by AKI. Crosstalk between the kidney and heart, which has been recognized recently as cardiorenal syndrome, appears to have an important role in clinical settings, but the mechanisms by which AKI causes cardiac injury remain poorly understood. Both the kidney and heart are highly energy-demanding organs that are rich in mitochondria. Therefore, we investigated the role of mitochondrial dynamics in kidney-heart organ crosstalk
Kidney injury, including acute kidney injury (AKI) and chronic kidney disease (CKD), has become very common in critically ill patients treated in ICUs. Many epidemiological studies have revealed significant associations of AKI and CKD with poor outcomes of high mortality and medical costs. Although many basic studies have clarified the possible mechanisms of sepsis and septic AKI, translation of the obtained findings to clinical settings has not been successful to date. No specific drug against
Our results suggest that urinary L-type fatty acid-binding protein can be a useful biomarker for sepsis complicated with acute kidney injury for detecting its severity.
Accumulating evidence of the beyond-glucose lowering effects of a gut-released hormone, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), has been reported in the context of remote organ connections of the cardiovascular system. Specifically, GLP-1 appears to prevent apoptosis, and inhibition of dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4), which cleaves GLP-1, is renoprotective in rodent ischemia-reperfusion injury models. Whether this renoprotection involves enhanced GLP-1 signaling is unclear, however, because DPP-4 cleave
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