Yukio Nagasakiwas born in 1959. He received B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Engineering School of Science University of Tokyo in 1982, and 1987. Since 1987, he was working at the Science University of Tokyo as a Research Associate, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and Professor. In 2004, he moved to Graduate School of Pure and Applied Sciences, University of Tsukuba. He published more than 200 scientific papers. He received several awards such as The Award of Japanese Society for Biomaterials (2014), The Nagai Award from The Japan Society of Drug Delivery System (2015), and Polymer Society award, Japan (2017). He is now focusing on the development of "self-assembling drugs" supported by the MEXT budget (Grant #19H05458). We started a nano-particle type antioxidant, which presents mitochondrial dysfunction of normal cells and works effectively the oxidative stress-related diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and cancers. Based on this mechanism, he started to create a new concept on self-assembling drugs, which can improve their therapeutic effect and/or decrease their adverse effects, which cannot obtain by only simple compounds. Using this concept, we are now developing versatile drugs based on amino acids and short-chain fatty acids.
Title:
Novel drug development based on self-assembly
Abstract:
At the end of the 19th century, Paul Ehrlich found that methylene blue stains only the nerve endings of rabbits, so he thought, with a suitable choice of molecules, has no effect on healthy parts of the body and is influenced to the disease sites. He called it a "magic bullet" for such drugs. In the 21st century, a molecular-targeted drug was put into practical use, and his idea was realized. By the molecular target drugs, have cancer patients disappeared from the world? The answer is no, in reality, the number of deaths from cancer patients is steadily increasing year by year. In addition to developing further effective molecular-targeted drugs, a new concept of "medicine" is indispensable for reducing patient pain and improving efficacy. The objective of this research is to construct a new modality for the development of novel drugs by a new concept of molecular-assembling medicines following synthetic organic molecules and biomolecular drugs such as antibody drugs and nucleic acid drugs. This concept is based on the observation that self-assembling antioxidants suppressed their adverse effects significantly and accumulate in the inflammation site and effectively eliminate reactive oxygen species (ROS). Our results indicate the possibility that biological functions and therapeutic effects that cannot be obtained with low molecular weight compounds alone can be controlled by organizing small molecules. In recent years, in the field of drug discovery and development, several medicines whose medicinal effects are exerted only by self-assembling have been discovered. By developing our proposed research, we would like to achieve a system that is friendly to patients as a basis for the creation of an innovative drug discovery industry.
