• Professor
  • Katsuaki HOSHINO, Ph.D.
• Assistant Professor
  • Toshiro NIKI, Ph.D.

• Analysis of the functional molecules which regulate production of type I interferons in plasmacytoid dendritic cells.
• Study of the mechanisms regulating the function of the dendritic cell subsets.

• An endogenous lectin galectin-9 has been known to exert various immunomodulatory functions, which now comes to attract broader attention in medical field as one of the important player of immune-checkpoint. Our objective is to elucidate the molecular mechanism of galectin-9 in ameliorating skewed immune balance, and to explore potential therapeutic utility of the lectin for the treatment of refractory diseases including cancer and autoimmunity.

• Immunomodulatory effects of D-allose on cytokine production by plasmacytoid dendritic cells.
  Takao, K., et al. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 627, 130-136 (2022)
• Transcription factor MafB-mediated inhibition of type I interferons in plasmacytoid dendritic cells.
  Saiga, H., et al. Int Immunol 34(3), 159-172 (2022).
• The mechanism of action of Spi-B in the transcriptional activation of the interferon-alpha4 gene.
  Miyazaki, R., et al. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 525(2), 477-482 (2020).

• Plasma galectins and metabolites in advanced head and neck carcinomas: evidence of distinct immune characteristics linked to hypopharyngeal tumors
  BTT Tran, et al. OncoImmunology 12, 2150472 (2023)
• Galectin-9 protects humanized-ACE2 immunocompetent mice from SARS-CoV-2 infection
  ST Yeung, et al. Frontiers in immunology 13, 1011185 (2022)
• Galectin-9 Triggers Neutrophil-Mediated Anticancer Immunity.
  Avtenyuk NU, et al. Biomedicines 10, 66 (2021).

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