One Ten Millionth Chance of Finding Cancer Cell

Welcome to another episode on what's happening in/on/to Japan. I'm your navigator, Nathan Shiga.

Of course you know Dr. Shinya Yamanakawa and his Nobel Prize-winning IPS technology. Lots of researches are under way worldwide in disease modeling and drug development, organ synthesis, tissue repair, etc.

Now, Japan's National Institute of Health Sciences (NIHS) has just come up with a technology to detect one cancer cell out of ten million cells in the nerve/muscle tissues created from an IPS cell. The argument here is that there is always a possibility of cancer cells mixing into the IPS-fabricated cell in the process and that a need is essential for preventing that from happening.

It is expected that IPS-based regenerative medicine (spinal injuries, coronary troubles, etc.) will require a large quantity of IPS cells and the matter of safety is an absolute prerequisite. This technology supports clinical studies by uplifting the level of safety in cell transplantation.

The National Institute of Health Sciences is undertaking this study under Department Chief Youji Sato. The group placed a large amount of cancer-containing cells in minutely segmented petri dishes in agar-agar only cancer cells can survive in. Each segment was photographed to confirm one ten millionth cancer cell.

Director Sato comments:

"In regenerative medicine using IPS cells the possibility is not nil for cancer cells emerging in the process of cultivation, and when that happens we ought to be able to affectively detect them at a high percentage. This technology should prove immensely useful in the treatment of spiral injuries, coronary troubles, etc. that require a large amount of cells."

Regenerative medicine itself is no recent jargon but the emergence of IPS cells has certainly opened an entirely broad vista. This is yet another area where Japan has so much to contribute to the world.

Good show, Japan.