Graduate School of Medicine „ Medical Sciences
„ Dermatology

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Professor: Ryuhei OKUYAMA
Associate Professor: Hisashi UHARA
Assistant Professor: Koichi HAYASHI, Hiroshi MURATA, Yukiko KINIWA, Yasufumi GOTO, Eisaku OGAWA

Summary of Activity
Research in the Department of Dermatology centers on melanoma.


Research Projects
The major themes in the laboratory are:
Dermoscopy: Dermoscopy is a noninvasive method, which enhances our diagnostic ability of pigmented skin lesions. We are the first to report the characteristic dermoscopic patterns of melanocytic lesions on acral volar skin. We are now establishing a simple but effective algorithm for management of pigmented lesions on acral volar skin based on dermoscopic patterns.
Acral melanoma: Acral melanoma is a unique type of cutaneous melanoma, which is most prevalent in non-Caucasian populations, such as the Japanese. We are investigating molecular and biological characteristics of acral melanoma. The studies include the establishment of novel acral melanoma cell lines and defining signal transduction pathways that are constitutively activated in acral melanomas.
Genetic diagnosis of melanocytic tumors: Histopathological diagnosis of melanocytic tumor can be very difficult. We are trying to establish an adjunctive diagnostic system for melanocytic neoplasms by using gene sequence, FISH and multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification.
Histogenesis of melanocytic nevus: Melanocytic nevus is the most common benign neoplasm in humans. We are investigating the histogenesis of melanocytic nevus by using BRAF gene mutations as a molecular marker. We are now doing clonality analysis of acquired melanocytic nevus.

References
Clinical Research & Reports
  1. Minagawa A, Koga H, Okuyama R. Dermoscopic features of non-pigmented eccrine poromas in association with their histopathological features. Br J Dermatol in press.

  2. Goto Y, Uhara H, Murata H, Koga H, Kosho T, Yamazaki M, Takata M, Okuyama R. Leg ulcers associated with positive lupus anticoagulant in two cases of Klinefelterfs syndrome. Acta Derm Venereol in press.

  3. Yoshikawa M, Uhara H, Arakura F, Murata H, Kubo H, Takata M, Yoshida K, Okuyama R. Calchiphylaxis with POEMS syndrome. Acta Derm Venereol in press.

  4. Uhara H, Koga H, Takata M, Saida T. (2009) The whiteboard marker as a useful tool for the dermoscopic "furrowink test". Arch Dermatol 145:1331-1332.

  5. Hayashi K, Koga H, Uhara H, Saida T. (2009) High-frequency 30-MHz sonography in preoperative assessment of tumor thickness of primary melanoma: usefulness in determination of surgical margin an‚„indication for sentinel lymph node biopsy. Int J Clin Oncol 14:426-430.
Basic Research
  1. Okada S, Muto A, Ogawa E, Nakanome A, Katoh Y, Ikawa S, Aiba S, Igarashi K, Okuyama R. Bach1-dependent and -independent regulation of heme oxygenase-1 in keratinocytes. J Biol Chem in press.

  2. Takayama M, Fujita R, Suzuki M, Okuyama R, Aiba S, Motohashi H, Yamamoto M. (2010) Genetic analysis of hierarchical regulation of Gata1 and NF-E2 p45 gene expression in megakaryopoiesis. Mol Cell Biol 30:2668-2680.

  3. Goto Y, Koyanagi K, Narita N, Kawakami Y, Takata M, Uchiyama A, Nguyen L, Nguyen T, Ye X, Morton DL, Hoon DS. (2009) Aberrant Fatty Acid-Binding Protein-7 Gene Expression in Cutaneous Malignant Melanoma. J Invest Dermatol 130:221-229.

  4. Yamaura M, Mitsushita J, Furuta S, Kiniwa Y, Ashida A, Goto Y, Shang WH, Kubodera M, Kato M, Takata M, Saida T, Kamata T. (2009) NADPH oxidase 4 contributes to transformation phenotype of melanoma cells by regulating G2-M cell cycle progression. Cancer Res 69:2647-2654.

  5. Ashida A, Takata M, Murata H, Kido K, Saida T. (2009) Pathological activation of KIT in metastatic tumors of acral and mucosal melanomas. Int J Cancer 124:862-868.