Tokyo Women's Medical University

School of Medicine

Pharmacology

Overview

Our department has a history of endocrinopharmacology with a focus on the pituitary gland and thyroid gland.
In April 2002, Professor Yoshiro Maru joined our department with a background in molecular biology of cancer, leukemia, and angiogenesis. Our research interests include regulation of cancer and leukemia cell proliferation with an eye toward molecular targeted therapy, molecular biology of genomic instability and DNA repair, cell cycle, vascular endothelial growth factors, reactive oxygen species (ROS)-producing molecules, inflammation-related molecules, heat shock proteins, and free radicals, respectively. For the past seven years, we have also been conducting research on inflammation and cancer metastasis in connection with the above-mentioned multiple studies. All members of the department are also studying immunology and other fields of pharmacology. Pharmacology is characterized by the fact that it encompasses many academic fields if we are aware of medications. Inflammation and cancer metastasis, which has this characteristic, is a huge research challenge for our department.

Education Details

We are responsible for lectures on (1) "The Origin of the Human Body, Autonomic Nerve Agents and Biological Reactions" in "Biological Systems and Control Mechanisms”, Oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes in "Genes and Genetics”, in "Biodefense and Immunity", and in "Living Organisms and Microbes", in the first grade of the School of Medicine, (2) “The Basics of Treatment."”, and also conduct “Cardiovascular”, “Renal and Urinary Tract”, “Basic Medical Expression Techniques” in the second grade of the School of Medicine, (3) Pharmacology in organ-specific classes in other grades, "Gastroenterology", "Neurology" and "Psychiatry" in the third grade, "Immunology, Allergy and Collagen Disease" in the fourth grade, “Pregnancy and Delivery”, “Basic Therapeutics”, (4) "General Clinical Pharmacology" in the Graduate School of Medicine, (5) “Pharmacology“ in the "Biomedical Curriculum" of the Institute for Advanced Biomedical Sciences, and (6) "Pharmacology" in the School of Nursing, and lectures on pharmacology in the graduate school of nursing. Practical training includes (i) double-blind methods, (ii) central nervous system agents in animals, (iii) smooth muscle agents, (iv) cardiovascular agents, and (v) pharmacokinetics of drugs in the second grade of the School of Medicine.

Research Details

A major recent focus of our laboratory is to investigate the effects of cancer-related and inflammatory genes on cancer growth and metastasis. We are examining the growth, migration, invasion into metastatic sites, and proliferation of primary cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. In addition, we are examining the effects of carcinogenesis on host cells in terms of the microenvironment in which they reside and the effects they have on metastatic sites before metastasis. The molecules we are dealing with are diverse, including those related to endothelial cells, bone marrow cells, lung epithelium, liver cells, immune response cells, etc. and all members of the department have their own research themes. In addition, we are conducting experiments to study the molecular mechanisms of drug resistance and to propose a strategy to deal with this problem in the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia, which is at the forefront of molecular-targeted drugs for cancer.

Faculty

Yoshiro Maru
Atsuko Deguchi

Graduate School

Please refer to Research details.

Related links

Research Achievements Database

---