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

Our laboratory conducts research to elucidate the differentiation and activation mechanisms of dendritic cells, which function as antigen-presenting cells in the innate immune system. We employ various research methods, including biochemistry, molecular biology, cell biology, and disease model animal development, to understand the molecular functions underlying biological phenomena. The findings from this basic research are being applied to develop therapeutic strategies for autoimmune diseases, with a focus on clinical applications.

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.

• Structural analysis of Spi-B DNA-binding Ets domain recognizing 5'-AGAA-3' and 5'-GGAA-3' sequences.
  Nonaka, Y., et al. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 749, 151354 (2025)
• 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).

• Plasma High-Mobility Group Box-1 and Galectin-9 in Patients with Trauma and Their Prognostic Potentials.
  Niki, T., et al. Tohoku J Exp Med (2024) 10.1620/tjem.2024.J130
• 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)

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