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Katayama Lab (Department of Molecularly Targeted Cancer Therapeutics, Cancer Chemotherapy Center, Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research)
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A lab that uncovers how cancers stop responding to drugs and searches for new drugs that overcome that resistance.
AboutAbout the lab
Basic research toward developing molecular targeted cancer drugs
The lab studies, at the molecular level, how cancer drugs stop working and how cancer metastasizes.
Its research takes place in the basic research division of the Cancer Chemotherapy Center, Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research.
The lab aims to discover molecules that can serve as therapeutic targets, as well as inhibitors and new treatment approaches.
In collaboration with the Cancer Institute Hospital of JFCR, the lab carries out research ranging from basic science to work closer to the clinic, including the use of patient-derived specimens.
Key terms
- Molecular targeted drug
- A drug that targets a specific molecule that is abnormally active in cancer cells and suppresses its function
- Immune checkpoint inhibitor
- A drug that releases the brake that cancer cells apply to the immune system, allowing T cells to attack the cancer
- Cancer stem cell
- A cancer cell with an especially strong ability to form tumors. It resists drugs and radiation, and is thought to cause recurrence and metastasis
ResearchResearch themes
The lab aims to find molecules that can become targets for new cancer drugs and to develop actual therapeutics. It works on a wide range of themes, including drug resistance, cancer immunotherapy, cancer stem cells, and cancer metastasis.
*Illustrative imageWhy molecular targeted drugs stop working
Focusing mainly on lung cancer, the lab investigates how resistance to molecular targeted drugs develops, using cultured cells, mouse models, and patient specimens taken before and after treatment, and searches for drugs that overcome that resistance.
*Illustrative imageSearching for targets against cancer stem cells
Cancer stem cells remain after treatment and cause recurrence. The lab studies the mechanisms that maintain their properties, the marker molecules that identify them, and the target molecules that can drive them to differentiate or die.
*Illustrative imageSurvival and proliferation signaling
The lab studies the signaling that supports the survival and proliferation of cancer cells. Recently, it has been tracing how intracellular signaling changes under molecular targeted drugs and leads to resistance in lung and colorectal cancer cells, using approaches such as single-cell analysis.
*Illustrative imageWhy cancer immunotherapy stops working
The lab investigates why immune checkpoint inhibitors stop working, using patient specimens and mouse models. It has found that a variant form of secreted PD-L1 cancels out the effect of anti-PD-L1 antibodies.
MembersFaculty
- Visiting Associate ProfessorRyohei Katayama
VoicesStudent voices
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Use of a Multichannel Pipette for High-Throughput Liquid Handling in a Biosafety Cabinet” Siduduziwe Nxumalo / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Why molecular targeted drugs stop working: “Histopathology of poorly differentiated lung adenocarcinoma” Mikael Häggström, M.D. / CC0 (cropped)
- Searching for targets against cancer stem cells: “Breast cancer cells” Howard.r.prtty / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Survival and proliferation signaling: “A549 cell line” Pinyapat Prisananuntakul / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Why cancer immunotherapy stops working: “Healthy Human T Cell” NIAID/NIH / Public domain (cropped)
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