Keio University · Medicine
Professor Minoru Kitago's research lab specializes in translational oncology, focusing on the molecular mechanisms underlying cancer progression and immune evasion, particularly in gastrointestinal and skin malignancies. Key research directions include identifying genetic and epigenetic drivers of metastasis—such as RUNX3 downregulation and BRAF mutations in thyroid and melanoma cancers—evaluating tumor microenvironment interactions, and developing immunotherapeutic strategies like dendritic cell vaccination for pancreatic cancer. The lab also pioneers liquid biopsy techniques for circulating tumor cell (CTC) detection and characterization, integrating genomics and transcriptomics for precision oncology applications.
Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.
RUNX3 is down-regulated during melanoma progression and miR-532-5p is a regulatory factor of RUNX3 expression.
This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of and immune response to Wilms tumor gene 1 (WT1) peptide-pulsed dendritic cell vaccination combined with gemcitabine (DCGEM) as a first-line therapy among patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. Ten HLA-A*2402 patients were treated with WT1 peptide-pulsed DC vaccination (1 × 10(7) cells) on days 8 and 22 and gemcitabine (1000 mg/m(2) ) on days 1, 8 and 15. Induction of a WT1-specific immune response was evaluated using the delayed-type hypersensit
BRAF mutation may be a key genetic factor for the metastatic progression of papillary thyroid carcinoma. The study demonstrates that this gene mutation is a significant risk factor for locoregional lymph node metastasis and has potential utility as a surrogate marker.
Intraductal papillary-mucinous tumors (IPMT) consist of cells with varying histologic degrees of severity and exhibit multiple tumor loci; however, whether or not these lesions exhibit the same genetic changes has not been clarified. To investigate this point, we analyzed K-ras mutations in multiple IPMT lesions from each patient enrolled in our study and compared our findings to those for patients with ductal adenocarcinoma of the pancreas (DC). Twenty IPMT specimens and 7 DC specimens were res
The assay of bead capture coupled with the PCR has utility for assessing CTCs in melanoma patients, which can then be characterized for both genomic and transcriptome expression.
PERCIST was more accurate in determining NAT's therapeutic effects for PDAC than RECIST. MTV reduction rates were independent prognostic factors for PDAC.
Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues used for routine pathological diagnosis are valuable for cancer genomic analysis; however, the association between mutation status derived from these specimens and prognosis in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains unclear. We analyzed 50 cancer-related gene mutations including driver genes in PDAC, using next-generation sequencing (NGS) to clarify the association between gene mutations and prognosis. DNA was extracted from FFPE tissues o
Open papers in the app to read, cite, and organize with AI.
