Tetsuya Nakatsura, MD, PhD

Many expectations are gathered for cancer immunotherapy that exploits the power of immunity provided in the body. Various information floods on the Internet, and we also have telephone inquiries every day. There is no magic medicine or therapy that seems to work for everyone. However, it is still under development. In order to meet the expectations of many patients for cancer immunotherapy, we will move forward one step at a time by repeating precise basic research and clinical trials with firm procedures.

Official title

• Chief, Division of Cancer Immunotherapy (Kashiwa)
• Visiting Professor, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kumamoto University
• Visiting Professor, Graduate School of Biological Science, Tokyo University of Science

Area of research

• Cancer Immunology

Keywords

• Cancer Immunotherapy
• Cancer Antigen
• Cancer Vaccine
• Tumor Marker

Current main research theme

• Development of cancer vaccine therapy
• Development of personalized cancer vaccine therapy as a preventive method for recurrence after curative surgery
• Development of cancer prevention vaccine
• Development of cancer antigen-specific T cell therapy including utilization of iPS cells
• Development of individualized T cell therapy
• Development of cancer risk diagnosis method with blood samples

Email 

tnakatsu●east.ncc.go.jp（Replace ●to @ ）

Brief History

• 1992 MD. Kumamoto University, Faculty of Medicine
• 2001 PhD. Kumamoto University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Surgery
• 1992 Department of Surgery II, Kumamoto University School of Medicine
• 1994 Resident, National Cancer Center Hospital East
• 2001 Assistant Professor, Department of Immunogenetics, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kumamoto University
• 2005 Section Head, Section for Cancer Immunotherapy, Research Center for Innovative Oncology, National Cancer Center Hospital East
• 2012 Chief, Division of Cancer Immunotherapy, Research Center for Innovative Oncology, National Cancer Center Hospital East  
• 2013 Chief, Division of Cancer Immunotherapy, Exploratory Oncology & Clinical Trial Center, National Cancer Center

Major affiliated societies

• American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)
• Japanese Cancer Association (Councilor)
• Japanese Society for Immunology
• Japanese Association of Cancer Immunology (Director)
• Japanese Society for Molecular Tumor Marker Research (Manager)
• Japan Society for Clinical Immunology
• Japan Society for Biological Therapy (Councilor)
• Japan Research Association for Immunotherapeutics (Director)

Major Publications

1. Sawada Y, Yoshikawa T, Ofuji K, Yoshimura M, Tsuchiya N, Takahashi M, Nobuoka D, Gotohda N, Takahashi S, Kato Y, Konishi M, Kinoshita T, Ikeda M, Nakachi K, Yamazaki N, Mizuno S, Takayama T, Yamao K, Uesaka K, Furuse J, Endo I, Nakatsura T. Phase II study of the GPC3-derived peptide vaccine as an adjuvant therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma patients. OncoImmunology, 5:e1129483, 2016 
2. Sawada Y, Yoshikawa T, Nobuoka D, Shirakawa H, Kuronuma T, Motomura Y, Mizuno S, Ishii H, Nakachi K, Konishi M, Nakagohri T, Takahashi S, Gotohda N, Takayama T, Yamao K, Uesaka K, Furuse J, Kinoshita T, Nakatsura T. Phase I trial of a glypican-3-derived peptide vaccine for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma: immunologic evidence and potential for improving overall survival. Clin Cancer Res, 18:3686-3696, 2012 
3. Komori H, Nakatsura T, Senju S, Yoshitake Y, Motomura Y, Ikuta Y, Fukuma D, Yokomine K, Harao M, Beppu T, Matsui M, Torigoe T, Sato N, Baba H, Nishimura Y. Identification of HLA-A2- or HLA-A24-restricted CTL epitopes possibly useful for glypican-3-specific immunotherapy of hepatocellular carcinoma. Clin Cancer Res, 12:2689-2697, 2006 
4. Nakatsura T, Komori H, Kubo T, Yoshitake Y, Senju S, Katagiri T, Furukawa Y, Ogawa M, Nakamura Y, Nishimura Y. Mouse homologue of a novel human oncofetal antigen, glypican-3, evokes T-cell-mediated tumor rejection without autoimmune reactions in mice. Clin Cancer Res, 10:8630-8640, 2004 
5. Nakatsura T, Yoshitake Y, Senju S, Monji M, Komori H, Motomura Y, Hosaka S, Beppu T, Ishiko T, Kamohara H, Ashihara H, Katagiri T, Furukawa Y, Fujiyama S, Ogawa M, Nakamura Y, Nishimura Y. Glypican-3, overexpressed specifically in human hepatocellular carcinoma, is a novel tumor marker. Biochem Biophys Res Commun, 306:16-25, 2003