Fighting a cold, fighting a tumourProfessor Yasunari Nakamotowww.knowledgetranslationmedia.com

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These results are very promising, and Professor
Nakamoto is confident about the future ofResearcher
Profilethese treatments. As he comments, “DC is avery safe and widely applicable therapeutic
tool for malignancies. I believe it will become astandard treatment option in combination withcurrent therapies such as trans-catheter hepatic
arterial embolization (TAE), in particular foradvanced stage cancers. I think the DC therapies
can be combined with various treatments,
including immune checkpoint inhibitors,
for advanced malignancies.” Time will tell,naturally, but these initial clinical trials haveshown sufficient success that further studies arealmost certain to be approved.

Professor Yasunari Nakamoto, M.D., Ph.D.
Head of Gastroenterology and Neurology
Faculty of Medical Sciences
University of Fukui

Where would he like to take his research after
this work is complete? He would like to examine
the variability of cancer, as he commented:“During our research into the development ofcancer immunotherapies, I noticed that thetherapeutic effects were largely different frompatient to patient, they were not predictableprior to the treatments.” His hope is to extend
with hepatocellular carcinoma. This trial used aslightly varied method, the cells were extracted
and converted into DCs, but this time weretreated with a chemical known as OK432 during
the conversion process. OK432 is a dried powder
made from killed bacteria, Streptococcus
pyrogenes to be precise. Because this powder
is recognisably ‘bacterial’, and thus dangerous,
it essentially encourages the dendritic cells to‘wake up’ and begin the process of maturation,
along with several other helpful downstream
effects. This new therapeutic method proved
to be very successful, while the earlier trial
had shown some promise, the use of OK432
led to a significant increase in patient survival.
Over half of the patients given standard
treatment saw the cancer return within a year
(recurrence being a significant problem forhepatocellular carcinoma), however eleven of
the 13 DC-treated patients remained cancerfree after one year. The role of the dendritic
cells was supported by the observation that theDC-treated patients had higher levels of bothimmune system signalling proteins and tumourkilling activity. Most importantly, the treatment
seemed to be well tolerated by all of thepatients. Taken together, this suggests that theDC therapeutic approach is able to significantly
extend the life of patients with hepatocellularcarcinoma.
SCIENTI A

his work into the field of personalised medicine,essentially using our knowledge of the body at a

After completing his MD at Kanazawa Universityof Japan, Professor Nakamoto began his longcareer in research by completing his PhD in
Medical Science. After a stint at the prestigious
The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) in California,USA, he returned to Japan and continued
climbing the scientific ladder. He is currently
the Head of the Second Department of Internal
Medicine at the University of Fukui, Japan, with awide range of research interests.

patient-by-patient level in order to provide themost effective treatment possible.
This process is already quite ‘personal’, as DCtreatment involves the use of our own cells tofight cancer, but could be improved even further
as we determine which tumour cell factors
are most important in affecting the chance ofthe treatment working. Work to this effect isalready being conducted, as the Nakamotogroup and collaborators attempt to identify
a number of chemicals which can substitutefor OK432. Although OK432 remains the mosteffective DC-activator, it is possible that others
may be more useful in certain subsets ofhepatocellular carcinoma tumours. This typeof research is, unfortunately, significantly more
complicated to perform, and indeed Professor
Nakamoto comments that “there are manyquestions to be answered in order to solvethese problems”. Answering these questions
and solving these problems, however, remains
a goal for many dedicated scientists, withthe challenges of cancer heterogeneity andpersonalised medicine being very hot fields ofresearch indeed. As Professor Nakamoto brings
the expertise of his team into play, this field isbound to become hotter still.

CONTACT
P: +81 776 61 8351
E: ynakamot@u-fukui.ac.jp
W: http://naika2.labos.ac/
KEY COLLABORATORS
Prof. Shuichi Kaneko, Kanazawa University
Prof. Naofumi Mukaida, Kanazawa University
Prof. Tetsuya Nakatsura, National Cancer Center,JapanLAB MEMBERS
Dr. Tadanori Hamano, University of FukuiDr. Hiroyuki Suto, University of Fukui
Dr. Tomoyuki Nemoto, University of Fukui
Dr. Katsushi Hiramatsu, University of Fukui
Dr. Osamu Yamamura, University of Fukui
Dr. Masahiro Ohtani, University of Fukui
Dr. Koji Hayashi, University of Fukui
Dr. Masamichi Ikawa, University of Fukui
Dr. Hidetaka Matsuda, University of Fukui
Dr. Akiko Matsunaga, University of Fukui