Profile(Japanese)
My research interests include basic and clinical studies on skin immunity, especially autoimmunity, follicular immunity, atopic dermatitis and psoriasis. USA) to further her research on follicular immunity. While there, he investigated immune tolerance and stress hormones around the hair follicle, and analysed the fact that the hair follicle is an immune-tolerant tissue known as the immune privilege region, which mainly reduces MHC class I expression, and that its failure induces autoimmune alopecia such as alopecia areata and published a paper (Ito et al. Am J Pathol 2004), which was widely cited and became the basic concept of alopecia areata. Since his return to Japan, he has reopened an alopecia areata outpatient clinic and is committed to sharing what he has learnt from his research with the local medical community. One of these studies showed that plasmacytoid dendritic cells are deeply involved in the pathogenesis of alopecia areata (Ito et al. Allergol Int 2019). We feel that this provides an understanding of how viral infections can trigger alopecia areata and can provide a basis for daily life guidance for patients. We are investigating CCR5 inhibition and other approaches for the development of new therapeutic agents in the future, and have published results showing that anti-CCR5 antibodies to inhibit Th1/Tc1 chemotaxis in C3H/HeJ mice improved alopecia symptoms in a mouse model (J Cutan Allergy Immunol 2019). Based on this basic research, JAK1 and JAK3 inhibitors were also considered for the purpose of IFN-γ inhibition, etc., and international joint clinical trials have already been carried out at several domestic and overseas institutions, including Hamamatsu Medical School, and the application was expanded and published as a new drug in 2022 and 2023. He also supervised Assistant Professor Kageyama in analysing the cytokine balance in the pathogenesis of alopecia areata complicated by atopic dermatitis, which was published in Int J Mol Sci. The results indicate a condition that should be considered in the choice of treatment for patients. We are the most active institution in Japan in the use of JAK inhibitors for alopecia areata, and we are conscious of contributing to basic research and drug discovery through joint research and advisory agreements with various pharmaceutical companies.
In the future, we will attempt to elucidate the pathology of alopecia areata, which is becoming increasingly intractable, and explore new therapeutic targets.