Establishment of central nervous system barrier-based drug discovery science to open up the future of central nervous system disease therapy Details

We focus on the cells of the CNS barrier itself as a target for therapeutic and diagnostic drugs to solve the problem of brain drug distribution (drug discovery that does not require the drug penetration across CNS barriers) and then open up a new drug discovery field for CNS diseases. Since the CNS barrier affects the brain environment, one of the important causes of diseases in the CNS is the abnormality of the barrier (the barrier also gets abnormal as a result of pathologies in the CNS tissues). Our goal is to establish a new and unprecedented drug discovery strategy to treat and diagnose CNS diseases by treating and diagnosing the abnormalities of the barrier. We are working daily to realize the following four concepts, with the goal of creating a new academic discipline “CNS barrier-based Drug Discovery Science”.

Claudin-5 study Details

The research interest of Hashimoto’s group is Claudin-5 (CLDN-5) protein in the blood-brain barrier, which is one of the four CNS barriers proposed by Uchida’s group. Claudin-5 is the responsible protein to build tight junctions in brain microvascular endothelial cells, the major cellular component of the blood-brain barrier.

The mission of Hashimoto’s group is to cure CNS diseases caused by the abnormal CLDN-5 expression/function via its normalization. We are challenging to

• Neutralize a pathogenic CLDN-5 mutant selectively in the body.
• Inhibit genes that negatively regulate CLDN-5 expression under the CNS diseases.