The University of Osaka · Medicine
Professor Yasuo Tsutsumi's research lab specializes in the development of advanced biologics and targeted therapeutics for cancer and autoimmune diseases. The lab focuses on protein engineering, including PEGylation and antibody optimization, to enhance the stability, efficacy, and safety of therapeutic proteins such as immunotoxins and cytokine-targeting agents. A key research direction involves structural biology to understand receptor-ligand interactions—particularly TNF-TNFR2—enabling the design of selective biologics with reduced side effects. The lab also explores the potential of novel nanomaterials, such as carbon nanotubes and fullerenes, for drug delivery while evaluating their biocompatibility and safety in nanomedicine applications.
Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.
Chemical modification of proteins with polyethylene glycol (PEGylation) can increase plasma half-lives, stability, and therapeutic potency. To make a PEGylated recombinant immunotoxin with improved therapeutic properties, we prepared a mutant of anti-Tac(Fv)-PE38 (LMB-2), a recombinant immunotoxin composed of a single-chain Fv fragment of the anti-human Tac monoclonal antibody to the IL-2 receptor alpha subunit fused to a 38-kDa fragment of Pseudomonas exotoxin. For site-specific PEGylation of L
Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) is an inflammatory cytokine that has important roles in various immune responses, which are mediated through its two receptors, TNF receptor 1 (TNFR1) and TNFR2. Antibody-based therapy against TNF is used clinically to treat several chronic autoimmune diseases; however, such treatment sometimes results in serious side effects, which are thought to be caused by the blocking of signals from both TNFRs. Therefore, knowledge of the structural basis for the recognition of
Expression of caveolin-3 is both necessary and sufficient for cardiac protection, a conclusion that unites long-standing ultrastructural and molecular observations in the ischemic heart. The present results indicate that increased expression of caveolins, apparently via actions that depend on phosphoinositide 3-kinase, has the potential to protect hearts exposed to ischemia/reperfusion injury.
Carbon nanomaterials, including fullerenes, carbon nanohorns, and carbon nanotubes, are increasingly being used in various fields owing to these materials' unique, size-dependent functions and physicochemical properties. Recently, because of their high variability and stability, carbon nanomaterials have been explored as a novel tool for the delivery of therapeutic molecules including peptide and nucleic acid cancer drugs. However, insufficient information is available regarding the safety of ca
Antibody drugs with a high affinity and specificity are effective and safe for intractable diseases, such as cancers and autoimmune diseases. Furthermore, they have played a central role in drug discovery, currently accounting for eight of the top 20 pharmaceutical products worldwide by sales. Forty years ago, clinical trials on antibody drugs that were thought to be a magic bullet failed, partly due to the immunogenicity of monoclonal antibodies produced in mice. The recent breakthrough in anti
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