Department of Breast and Endocrine Surgery (Breast Center)

Abstract

, and the development of a QOL questionnaire, as well as the management of multidisciplinary medical teams 1) 16) -18) . Group Leaders and Research Topics 1) Katsuya Nakai (Associate Professor)My research is focused on triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). TNBC has a poor prognosis and has few treatment options. Therefore, a new treatment strategy is strongly desired. I have been working on the drug resistance and methylation of the DNA in TNBC. I am investigating epigenetic mechanisms such as histone modifications 6) 7) . 2) Yoshiya Horimoto (Associate Professor) I have dedicated myself to doing real translational research 8)-11). My personal research themes are: 1. how in situ nests of breast cancer achieve invasion through an interaction with stroma and 2. cancer cell dormancy induced by endocrine therapy. 3) Masahiko Tanabe (Associate Professor)The epidemiology of breast cancer is well known, but the molecular mechanism that connects epidemiology and biology associated with the carcinogenesis of breast cancer has not been revealed at all. I am engaged in studies on epigenetic change for breast cancer dependent on stimulation with estrogen. In addition, MMC/MTX treatment for metastatic breast cancer is among my interests for clinical work 12) . 4) Hideo Shimizu (Assistant Professor)Our major research interest is to develop prognostic and predictive factors for breast cancer; for example, the application of a 70-gene expression profile to Japanese breast cancer patients is our recent work 14) . 5) Emiko Tokuda (Assistant Professor)Our major research interest is to clarify the mechanism of the crosstalk between ER and HER2 signaling pathway, and we hope to achieve breakthroughs regarding the mechanism of drug resistance related to such crosstalk 13) .