Announcement of adoption on the “Research Project for Practical Use of AIDS Countermeasures (Research on Elucidation of The Mechanism of HIV Infection)”
KOTAI Biotechnology, Inc. are pleased announce that a study on elucidation and improvement of immune conditions for the treatment of HIV infections (R&D Representative: Dr. Ai Tachikawa) has been adopted in the research project for practical use of AIDS Countermeasures which was publicly offered by Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED)
Description
Details of the research adopted
Study on elucidation and improvement of immune conditions for the treatment of HIV infections
In this project, we will work with National Institute of Infectious Diseases to elucidate changes in the functional diversity of T cells*1 in HIV infections using HIV samples, which are possible for a long-term analysis, held by the National Institute of Infectious Diseases. It is said that the immune system of people with chronic HIV infection is similar to that of elderly people and by clarifying the relationship between the diversity of T cells and the risk of diseases other than HIV, we believe that this will contribute to the assessment of disease risk and improvement of QOL in an aging society as well as HIV-infected people.
Research Organization
R&D Representative:
- Ai Tachikawa,
Director, AIDS Research Center, National Institute of Infectious Diseases
Research and Development Contributor:
- Dr. Shin Kaneko,
Associate Professor, Center for iPS Cell Research and Application, Kyoto University - Tomoyuki Miura,
Associate Professor, Institute for Frontier Life and Medical Sciences, Kyoto University - Hiroshi Ishii,
AIDS Research Center, National Institute of Infectious Diseases - Tsuyoshi Tahara,
Research Center for Life Science Technology, RIKEN - Kazuo Yamashita,
CEO, KOTAI Biotechnology, Inc.
Schedule of Research and Development
From April 1, 2018 to March 31, 2021
Glossary
*1T cells
A type of cell called lymphocytes contained in white blood cells in our blood. It expresses a molecule called T cell receptor (TCR) on the cell surface, and each cell recognizes different objects, thereby protecting the body from various pathogens. It is said that there are 1018 different types of TCR in our bodies, and TCR reflects the pathogens that individuals have been exposed to, so TCR sequences shared between individuals are very few.
*2 Functional diversity
Although each individual TCR recognizes different antigens (peptides presented in HLA molecules of the cell surface), DNA sequences are different in most cases even in TCR that recognizes the same antigen. However, because biologically it has the same function, by treating them as the same group, it is possible to discuss the functional diversity of the immune system. We have this grouping technology, and we will apply it in this project while making it more sophisticated.