Division of Supportive Care Research

Yasuhito Uezono, Junko Ezuka

Introduction

In May 2015, the Division of Supportive Care Research launched its activity in the Group for Innovative Cancer Treatment in the Exploratory Oncology Research & Clinical Trial Center (EPOC), aimed at innovative research specific for supportive and palliative care. Supportive and palliative care research is important and indispensable for improving the quality of life (QOL) in patients suffering from cancer. Our division is ongoing for this purpose, in particular, to innovate novel drugs for improving severe pain and cancer cachexia that worsen the QOL in cancer patients.

Research activities

In 2016, our division undertook and conducted two major projects regarding the development of novel pain killers as follows;

1)Development of "the new pain-killer compound X, which can remove oral pain without changing the texture and taste of food" for cancer patients with severe painful stomatitis, intellectually and financially supported by the Project Promoting Support for Drug Discovery from the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED).

2)Study for "Relief from neuropathic pain by blocking of the platelet-activating factor-pain loop" supported by the Project for Cancer Research and Therapeutic Evolution (P-CREATE) from AMED.

Future prospects

With novel seeds discovered from the Division of Cancer Pathophysiology, the National Cancer Center Research Institute (NCCRI) that we co-hold in the National Cancer Center (NCC), or from other collaborating University/Institute, we are going to propose and innovate novel therapeutics to improve the QOL in patients suffering from cancer pain or cancer cachexia, the symptoms not to relieve by drugs currently available.

List of papers published in 2016

Journal

1.Ohbuchi K, Miyagi C, Suzuki Y, Mizuhara Y, Mizuno K, Omiya Y, Yamamoto M, Warabi E, Sudo Y, Yokoyama A, Miyano K, Hirokawa T, Uezono Y. Ignavine: a novel allosteric modulator of the mu opioid receptor. Sci Rep, 6:31748, 2016

2.Kajitani N, Miyano K, Okada-Tsuchioka M, Abe H, Itagaki K, Hisaoka-Nakashima K, Morioka N, Uezono Y, Takebayashi M. Identification of Lysophosphatidic Acid Receptor 1 in Astroglial Cells as a Target for Glial Cell Line-derived Neurotrophic Factor Expression Induced by Antidepressants. J Biol Chem, 291:27364-27370, 2016

3.Murakami S, Herai M, Suzuki S, Fujii T, Tanaka H, Shinozaki M, Kokubun H, Akagi T, Uezono Y, Murakaimi-Ando Y, Shiraishi S, Matoba M. Plasma concentration of oxycodone and pain during hemodialysis in a patient with cancer. J Palliat Care Med, 6:1000252, 2016

4.Muramatsu S, Shiraishi S, Miyano K, Sudo Y, Toda A, Mogi M, Hara M, Yokoyama A, Kawasaki Y, Taniguchi M, Uezono Y. Metabolism of AM404 From Acetaminophen at Human Therapeutic Dosages in the Rat Brain. Anesth Pain Med, 6:e32873, 2016

5.Murakami S, Sudo Y, Miyano K, Nishimura H, Matoba M, Shiraishi S, Konno H, Uezono Y. Tris-hydroxymethyl-aminomethane enhances capsaicin-induced intracellular Ca2+ influx through transient receptor potential V1 (TRPV1) channels. J Pharmacol Sci, 130:72-77, 2016

6.Tagami K, Kashiwase Y, Yokoyama A, Nishimura H, Miyano K, Suzuki M, Shiraishi S, Matoba M, Ohe Y, Uezono Y. The atypical antipsychotic, olanzapine, potentiates ghrelin-induced receptor signaling: An in vitro study with cells expressing cloned human growth hormone secretagogue receptor. Neuropeptides, 58:93-101, 2016

Book

1.Uezono Y, Miyano K. Pain and Herbal Medicine: Effectiveness of Japanese Kampo Medicines on Pains Associated with Cancer Patients. In: Inui A (ed), Herbal Medicines, Methods in Pharmacology and Toxicology, USA, Springer Science, pp 19-36, 2016