RESEACH

Research-1

Thanks to many effective anti-retroviral drugs, HIV-1 infection has become a controllable chronic disease. However, the virus has not been completely eliminated from the body by the current therapy, and therefore the virus rebounds soon after drug interruption. People living with HIV-1 need lifelong treatment. In order to solve this clinical problem, it is necessary to clarify where the virus hides. To that end, we are focusing on monocytes and macrophages, one of the major target cells of HIV-1, in particular, what types of monocytes or macrophages can be latently and persistently infected with HIV-1.

Research-2

Macrophages are blood cells present in almost all tissues. Recently, there has been a major paradigm shift with macrophages. It has been thought that macrophages are differentiated from peripheral blood monocytes and its process is important for the maintenance of tissue macrophages. However, recent analyses by many groups has revealed that, contrary to this idea, many macrophages that developed during the fetal period remain in adult tissues. In order to clarify its significance, we are conducting research focusing on whether macrophages of different origins have different functions and whether fetal-derived macrophages can proliferate.

Research-2

Tunneling nanotubes (TNT), plasma membrane protrusions connecting distant cells and enable intercellular mitochondrial transfer, have been attracting attention as a new means of intercellular communication. We hypothesize that based on its structures, TNT mediate the intercellular transmission of the virus, and we are trying to prove the hypothesize with HIV-1 and its closely related human adult T-cell leukemia virus HTLV-1 as examples. Also, we are analyzing why TNT are often several times longer than the diameter of the cell that forms them, what molecules are responsible for the process, and how TNT formation affects functions of cells.