Nagoya University · Medicine
Professor Shuji Asai's research lab focuses on the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying tendon repair and regeneration, with a particular emphasis on connective tissue progenitor cells and their potential for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. The lab investigates the role of these progenitor cells in tendon healing, including their differentiation into tenogenic and chondrogenic lineages, and explores their therapeutic applications in degenerative joint conditions. Additionally, the lab contributes to clinical rheumatology research, examining the impact of disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs—particularly methotrexate and biologics—on disease progression, joint replacement rates, and patient outcomes in rheumatoid arthritis.
Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.
To study the cellular mechanism of the tendon repair process, we used a mouse Achilles tendon injury model to focus on the cells recruited to the injured site. The cells isolated from injured tendon 1 week after the surgery and uninjured tendons contained the connective tissue progenitor populations as determined by colony-forming capacity, cell surface markers, and multipotency. When the injured tendon-derived progenitor cells (inTPCs) were transplanted into injured Achilles tendons, they were
Concomitant MTX reduces the incidence of large joint replacement in patients with RA treated with TNF inhibitors.
High-dose MTX is independently associated with the prevalence of upper GI symptoms in Japanese patients with RA.
<b>Objectives:</b> To examine time trends in the characteristics of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) undergoing primary total joint replacement (TJR).<b>Methods:</b> Biologics were approved in Japan for use in patients with RA in July 2003. A total of 403 large joints in 282 patients who underwent TJR at our institute between 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2017 were retrospectively examined.<b>Results:</b> A significant decreasing trend was observed in the number of TJRs performed from 20
Concomitant MTX reduces the incidence of TKA by 56% in patients with RA during longterm treatment with TNF inhibitors.
<b>Objectives:</b> To evaluate the efficacy and safety of methotrexate (MTX) discontinuation in Japanese rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with sustained low disease activity undergoing combination therapy with tocilizumab (TCZ) plus MTX.<b>Methods:</b> This multicenter, open-label, uncontrolled, prospective study included RA patients maintaining low disease activity (Clinical Disease Activity Index (CDAI) ≤10) for ≥12 weeks with TCZ plus MTX. Methotrexate was discontinued following 12 weeks of
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease associated with irreversible joint destruction. Severe large joint destruction causes functional disability and pain, requiring total joint arthroplasty (TJA) in RA patients as well as those with osteoarthritis (OA), a degenerative joint disease [1]. Since newer medications, such as methotrexate and biologics, became available in Japan [2–4] and other countries [5,6], the number of RA patients undergoing TJA has declined. We recently fo
jRCTs041180071, UMIN000021247.
Sites of initial symptoms were frequently the back, hip, knee, and buttocks, and 41.7% had initial symptoms only in extra-axial joints. Younger onset patients frequently had extra-axial involvement.
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