Annual Report 2024
Division of Cancer Immunotherapy
Tetsuya Nakatsura, Yasushi Uemura, Kyoko Fukuda, Nobuo Tsukamoto, Toshihiro Suzuki, Arnaud Couzinet, Kazumasa Takenouchi, Kazunobu Onuki, Hiroki Kinoshita, Honoka Nishide, Alicia Cristina Peña Romero, Kazuki kanno, Karin Iwasa, Rieko Oki, Shoichi Mizuno, Satoko Inoue
Introduction
Our division investigates evidence-based cancer immunotherapy by repeating basic and translational researches. This division is focused on developing not only more effective immunotherapies but also immunological methods to suppress recurrence or to prevent cancer.
The Team and What We Do
- Non-clinical basic research aimed at FIH clinical trial of new TCR gene introduction/CAR gene introduction T-cell therapy
- Non-clinical basic research aimed at FIH clinical trial of various iPS cell-derived immune cell therapies
- Development of a diagnostic method for predicting cancer onset and recurrence using blood samples
- Basic research aimed at the clinical application of personalized T cell therapy
- Basic research aimed at developing vaccines to prevent cancer recurrence
- Associated research using patient specimens for various physician-initiated clinical trials
Research activities and Clinical trials
1) Public research funds and joint research funds were constantly obtained, and many types of joint research with companies and academia were conducted.
2) Research aimed at clinical trials of cancer vaccines is ongoing.
3) Research aimed at clinical trials of various TCR/CAR-T cell therapies is ongoing.
4) Personalized T cell therapy is being developed.
5) Research on circulating tumor cells in the blood is being conducted.
6) Various immune cells derived from iPS cells for cancer treatment are prepared, and their usefulness is studied at the basic research level.
7) A phase I clinical trial of iPS cell-derived CAR-ILC/NK cell therapy targeting GPC3 is being conducted in cooperation with Dr. Kaneko at the CiRA of Kyoto University.
8) We are engaged in development research aimed at clinical trials of novel CAR-T cell therapies.
Education
Our division accepted and trained the following trainees: students of doctoral course of the Graduate School of Medicine and Medical Doctors, students of doctoral course of Tokyo University of Science, and residents and senior residents of the NCCHE. Two doctoral course graduates were produced.
Future Prospects
Immune checkpoint blockades, such as anti-PD-1 antibody or anti-PD-L1 antibody and CAR-T cell therapy targeting CD19 showed high clinical effects; therefore, the development of innovative cancer immunotherapy is required. We continue to undertake activities associated with bridging basic research and clinical application aiming to developing novel immunotherapeutic methods.
List of papers published in 2024
Journal
1. Kato T, Nakatsuka R, Zhang R, Uemura Y, Yamashita H, Matsuoka Y, Shirouzu Y, Fujioka T, Hattori F, Ogata H, Sakashita A, Honda H, Hitomi H. The role of glial cells missing 2 in induced pluripotent stem cell parathyroid differentiation. Tissue & cell, 92:102634, 2025
2. Kinoshita H, Takenouchi K, Tsukamoto N, Ohnuki K, Suzuki T, Nakatsura T. Identification of 68 HLA-A24 and -A2-restricted cytotoxic T lymphocyte-inducing peptides derived from 10 common cancer-specific antigens frequently expressed in various solid cancers. Neoplasia (New York, N.Y.), 61:101135, 2025
3. Ito Y, Suzuki T, Shimomura M, Takenouchi K, Ohnuki K, Shoda K, Kenmochi Y, Yagyu S, Matsuura K, Hayashi R, Nakatsura T. Feasibility of Intratumoral Administration With EPHB4-CAR-T Cells for the Treatment of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma. Cancer science, 116:1227-1238, 2025
4. Nakatsura T, Takenouchi K, Kataoka J, Ito Y, Kikuchi S, Kinoshita H, Ohnuki K, Suzuki T, Tsukamoto N. Expression Profiles of Five Common Cancer Membrane Protein Antigens Collected for the Development of Cocktail CAR-T Cell Therapies Applicable to Most Solid Cancer Patients. International journal of molecular sciences, 26:2145, 2025
5. Nagatani Y, Kiyota N, Imamura Y, Koyama T, Funakoshi Y, Komatsu M, Itoh T, Teshima M, Nibu KI, Sakai K, Nishio K, Shimomura M, Nakatsura T, Ikarashi D, Nakayama T, Kitano S, Minami H. Different characteristics of the tumor immune microenvironment among subtypes of salivary gland cancer. Asia-Pacific journal of clinical oncology, 20:779-788, 2024
6. Couzinet A, Suzuki T, Nakatsura T. Progress and challenges in glypican-3 targeting for hepatocellular carcinoma therapy. Expert opinion on therapeutic targets, 28:895-909, 2024