Nihon University School of Medicine, Division of Research Planning and Development, Medical Research Support Center

The objective of our laboratory is to promote and develop basic and clinical studies in the School of Medicine

        The Research Planning and Development Medical Research Support Center was established in 2006 to manage and operate experimental apparatuses and facilities for joint use, which is important to promote basic and clinical studies in the Nihon University School of Medicine, realize basic study achievements in clinical studies, and support basic experiments to solve questions that arise in clinical studies. The first chairperson was Dr. Ichiro Murai, who is an expert on pineal hormone research. The objective of our laboratory is to promote and develop basic and clinical studies in the School of Medicine, for which we are required to be well-acquainted with basic and clinical studies.

        Currently, our laboratory performs studies centering in translational research aiming at the diagnosis, identification of the pathology, and treatment of digestive diseases. Basic and clinical studies are designed based on the achievements concerning digestive diseases determined by biological and medical statistics, simple test methods are developed, and clinical studies on new treatment methods are performed.

        Associate Professor, Takero Mazaki, M.D., Ph.D., takes a leading role in biological and medical statistics, and meta-analysis is now mainly performed1-3). Evidence obtained in surgical perioperative management, surgical infection, nutritional management, surgical procedures for the digestive system, and molecular-biology of cancer is integrated, and basic and clinical studies are designed based on the results. Associate Professor Mazaki is also well-acquainted with the metastasis and infiltration mechanisms of gastric and colorectal cancers, and he also supports basic studies of cancers.

        Regarding treatment, a clinical study on antibiotic combination therapy with amoxicillin, tetracycline, and metronidazole (ATM therapy) for an intractable disease, ulcerative colitis (UC), led by Professor Kimitoshi Kato, M.D., Ph.D., has been performed, and favorable results were reported. ATM therapy was conducted in patients with intractable steroid-dependent and -resistant UC, and the efficacy was confirmed4). Aiming at the selection of safe antibiotics, randomized prospective trials of AFM therapy including fosfomycin are now underway, in addition to clinical trials of ATM therapy.

        We have developed a simple, noninvasive breath test using a stable isotope, ¹³C, as a new test method for digestive diseases, and reported its usefulness to diagnose and identify the pathology of liver, pancreatic, and inflammatory bowel diseases. We also reported the usefulness of the ¹³C breath test to predict the treatment effects of anticancer drugs, 5FU derivatives5). Basic and clinical studies are being continued, aiming at the clinical application of the ¹³C breath test.