Akitoshi Nakashima

Organ functions generally decline with age, but the ovary is a prototypical organ that undergoes functional loss over time. Autophagy plays a crucial role in maintaining organ homeostasis, and age-related upregulation of the autophagy inhib…

子宮内膜症患者では、腹腔内の免疫環境の異常が指摘されている。Macrophage(MΦ)は、腹腔内の主な免疫細胞で、炎症性疾患である子宮内膜症患者の腹腔内においては、抗炎症・免疫抑制性のM2 MΦが優位と報告されているが、なぜM2 MΦ優位なのか、M2 MΦが子宮内膜症の増悪あるいは抑制因子であるのか、その意義は明らかにされていない。我々は逆流月経血中のalarmin IL-33に着目し、IL-33が腹腔内免疫環境をM2 MΦ優位に誘導する因子の1つであることをin vitr…

In endometriosis, M2 macrophages (MΦ) are dominant and promote the development of endometriosis lesions. However, the factor(s) which induces M2 MΦ are unknown. In the present study, we focused on interleukin (IL)-33, known as an alarmin an…

Endometrioma is known to be an occurrence site of ovarian cancer, but there is no evidence on how to reduce the risk of canceration. Here, we report three cases of ovarian cancer arising from endometrioma during hormone therapies of GnRH an…

OBJECTIVE: We investigated α-7 nAchR expression in human peritoneal macrophages and examined whether activation of nAchR might be a new therapy for endometriosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Human peritoneal fluid mononuclear cells (PFMC) were s…

Deep endometriosis is associated with severe painful symptoms that sometimes impair the quality of life in women of reproductive age. Medical therapy does not provide for adequate pain relief, and an effective management option to reduce pe…

The identification of a novel helper T (Th)-cell subset, the IL-17-producing Th (Th17) cells, has provided new insight into our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of reproduction. IL-17 has an important role in induction of the prote…

Primary endometrioid adenocarcinoma rarely occurs in the vagina. Occasionally, endometrioid adenocarcinoma has a microglandular pattern. Herein, a case of primary endometrioid adenocarcinoma of the vagina with a microglandular pattern arisi…