Forty-year Development Alongside Juntendo University's Department of Hematology

After I graduated from Juntendo University in 1985, I joined the Department of Collagen Disease and was assigned to the Hematology Group. At that time, bone marrow transplantation was being developed as a groundbreaking treatment. Juntendo hospitals were also conducting bone marrow transplantation. Vitamin D₃ inhibits clonal growth of myeloid leukemia, another cancer, and this finding needs further study in animals before clinical trials can be considered. Loss of a whole chromosome 7 (-7), or the long arm of chromosome 7 del (7q) occurs frequently in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) or acute myeloid leukemia (AML). We identified the smallest commonly deleted regions to as 7q31.1 (D7S486) and 7q33-34 (D7S498, D7S505), suggesting that alterations of a tumor suppressor genes in each region play an important role in de novo AML. We found that the ratio of CD4⁺ to CD8⁺ T cells (CD4/CD8 ratio) was decreased in patients with multiple myeloma (MM). The serum level of interleukin-16 (IL-16) was significantly higher in stage III patients, which is produced by activated CD8⁺ T cell and can induce CD4⁺ T cell activation. I would like to express my deep gratitude to CEO Hideoki Ogawa and the many other people at Juntendo University for giving me the opportunity to work at a university that is experiencing such incredible growth.