久留米大学 先端癌治療研究センター

The ultimate goal is“to help cancer patients and cancer care.”

 Northern Kyushu aria is one of the highest areas of cancer incidence and mortality rates in Japan and the increase of cancer population in this aria according to the progression of aging society is forecasted.

Under the circumstances, “Cancer” is the most important theme in Kurume University and we are undertaking “cancer control” from both clinical and basic research together with local community. The Research Center for Innovative Cancer Therapy is the central core of the research for cancer control.

 The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in Japan (MEXT) set up a grant support program for “the establishment of high-tech research centers at private universities” in fiscal 1996, and Kurume University was recognized under this program. Various research projects in our Center have been supported by this program. Currently, we have three divisions: Cancer Vaccine Development, Liver Cancer Research, and Molecular Targeting Therapeutics. We focused our research for the development of innovative anti-cancer therapy and drugs in our center since its establishment.

 Development of innovative cancer therapies has been our mission since the establishment of our Center, and we will continue our efforts to aggressively promote the development of innovative cancer therapies and insure the rapid delivery of these therapies to cancer patients.

The ultimate goal is“to help cancer patients and cancer care.

Development of innovative cancer therapies has been our mission since the establishment of our Center, and we will continue our efforts to aggressively promote the development of innovative cancer therapies and insure the rapid delivery of these therapies to cancer patients.

The main research department

Cancer Vaccine Development Division

 We are conducting research projects that cover a wide range from immunological pathogenesis specialized in cancer, including precancerous lesions, to clinical application. We have been promoting our research mainly focusing on epithelial dysplasia and subsequent tumorigenesis caused by persistent/uncontrolled chronic inflammation in organs involved in mucosal immunity such as the large intestine and the lungs. In addition, we are working on basic studies of next-generation cancer immunotherapy based on the modulation of the tumor microenvironment.

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Liver Cancer Research Division

  We are studying “Wnt signaling pathway in liver cancer cells” and “tumor microenvironment” with a special interest in liver cancer-specific endothelial cells. Clinically, we are reinforcing our original “New FP” therapy for liver cancer through combining it with emerging molecular targeted therapies and immunotherapies. Liver regeneration is also our major research subject, and we are promoting it from both basic and clinical aspects.

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Molecular Targeting Therapeutics Division

  The molecular target division is consisted by 9 department. Taking advantage of this feature, we are developing new cancer treatments including molecular targeted therapy across diseases and developing optimized medicine for diseases.
  We are currently working on the identification of factors directly related to cancer treatment and the investigation of the tumor immune environment for various carcinomas from various perspectives.

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