Chief Scientist Laboratories Liver Cancer Prevention Research Unit
Unit Leader: Mizuo Maeda (D.Eng.)
Research Summary

We perform basic and applied studies on drug discovery against HBV through development of a unique detection technique(s) and high throughput screenings on novel micro-signaling (therapeutic) targets, discovered using clinical samples from patients with virus infection, liver fibrosis/cirrhosis, liver degeneration, hepatic cancer, and recurrence of the cancer.
Main Research Fields
- Medicine, Dentistry & Pharmacy
Related Research Fields
- Biology
Keywords
- TGF-β LAP Degradation Products (LAP-D)
- Next Generation Drug Discovery for HBV
- Acyclic Retinoid (Peretinoin)
- Nuclear Transglutaminase
- Diagnosis of Liver Fibrogenesis
Selected Publications
- 1.
Furutani, Y., Toguchi, M., Shiozaki-Sato, Y., Qin, X-Y., Sudoh, M., Suzuki, H., Takahashi, N., Kakeya, H., and Kojima, S.:
"An interferon-like small chemical compound CDM-3008 suppresses hepatitis B virus through induction of interferon-stimulated genes."
PloS One 14(6): e0216139. (2019) - 2.
Takahashi, N., Hayashi, K., Nakagawa, Y., Furutani, Y., Toguchi, M., Shiozaki-Sato, Y., Sudoh, M., Kojima, S., and Kakeya, H.:
"Development of an anti-hepatitis B virus (HBV) agent through the structure-activity relationship of the interferon-like small compound CDM-3008."
Bioorg. Med. Chem. 27(3): 470-478. (2019) - 3.
Li, M., Qin, X-Y., Furutani, Y., Inoue, I., Sekihara, S., Kagechika, H., and Kojima, S.:
"Prevention of acute liver injury by suppressing plasma kallikrein-dependent activation of latent TGF-β."
Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 504(4): 857-864. (2018) - 4.
Qin, X-Y., Suzuki, H., Honda, M., Okada, H., Kaneko, S., Inoue, I., Ebisui, E., Hashimoto, K., Carninci, P., Kanki, K., Tatsukawa, H., Ishibashi, N., Masaki, T., Matsuura, T., Kagechika, H., Toriguchi, K., Hatano, E., Shirakami, Y., Shiota, G., Shimizu, M., Moriwaki, H., and Kojima, S.:
"Prevention of hepatocellular carcinoma by targeting MYCN-positive liver cancer stem cells with acyclic retinoid."
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 115(19):4969-4974. (2018) - 5.
Qin, X-Y., Hara, M., Arner, E., Kawaguchi, Y., Inoue, I., Tatsukawa, H., Furutani, Y., Nagatsuma, K., Matsuura, T., Wei, F., Kikuchi, J., Sone, H., Daub, C., Kawaji, H., Lassmann, T., Itoh, M., Suzuki, H., Carninci, P., Hayashizaki, Y.; FANTOM consortium, Kokudo, N., Forrest, ARR., Kojima, S.:
"Transcriptome analysis uncovers a cell growth-promoting activity of orosomucoid-1 on hepatocytes."
EBioMedicine 24:257-266. (2017) - 6.
Teraoka, R., Hara, M., Kikuta, K., Hirooka, Y., Furutani, Y., Shimosegawa, T., Masamune, A., and Kojima, S.:
"Plasma kallikrein-dependent TGF-β activation in patients with chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer."
Pancreas 46(3): e20-e22. (2017) - 7.
Hara, M., Inoue, I., Yamazaki, Y., Kirita, A., Matsuura T., Friedman, S., Rifkin, D.B., and Kojima, S.:
"L59 TGF-β LAP degradation products serve as a promising blood biomarker for liver fibrogenesis in mice."
Fibrogenesis Tissue Repair 8:17. (2015)
Recent Research Results
Lab Members
Principal investigator
- Mizuo Maeda
- Unit Leader
Core members
- Yutaka Furutani
- Senior Research Scientist
- Xian-Yang Qin
- Research Scientist
- Luc Nicolas Gailhouste
- Research Scientist
- Senko Tsukuda
- Contract Researcher
- Ting Su
- International Program Associate
- Shoko Higuchi
- Technical Staff I
- Mariko Toguchi
- Technical Staff I
- Kaori Yanaka
- Technical Staff I
- Sayaka Shimada
- Technical Staff II
Contact Information
408 Main Research Building
2-1 Hirosawa,
Wako, Saitama
351-0198, Japan
Email: LCPR-hisho [at] ml.riken.jp