• Research outline
• Research interests
• Staff
• Research results
• Research Grant List

Research outline

The Division of Neuroimmunology aims to understand how interactions among viruses, the immune system, and the nervous system contribute to the development of neurological diseases, and to translate these findings into novel therapeutic approaches.
One of our major goals is to overcome human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) infection, which is particularly prevalent in Kyushu and Kagoshima, and HTLV-1-associated myelopathy (HAM), a progressive neurological disease caused by HTLV-1 infection. By investigating disease mechanisms from multiple perspectives and bridging basic and clinical research, we strive to conduct locally rooted research with a global impact.
We welcome students and researchers interested in neuroimmunological diseases, viral infections, and translational research that connects basic science with clinical medicine.

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Research interests

• Pathogenesis and therapeutic development for HTLV-1-associated myelopathy (HAM)
• Understanding neurological disorders through virus-immune-neural interactions
• Establishment of animal models of HAM and analysis of disease mechanisms
• Immune cell and biomarker analyses in neuroimmunological diseases

Staff

Professor

Researche Repository

Associate Professor

Researche Repository

Specially Appointed Researcher

Visiting Researcher

Research results

Satoshi  NOZUMA

1. Yoshida T, Nozuma S, Tanaka M, Dozono M, Kodama D, Matsuzaki T, Kondo T, Kubota R, Takashima H. Dimethyl fumarate as a promising therapeutic candidate for virus-associated myelopathy. Brain. 2026:awaf447.
2. Dozono M, Nozuma S, Yoshida T, Kodama D, Matsuzaki T, Matsuura E, Tanaka M, Takashima H, Kubota R. HTLV-1-Infected CD4(+) T Cells Drive Spontaneous Lymphoproliferation and Virus-Specific CD8(+) Cytotoxic T Lymphocyte Expansion in HAM/TSP. Neurol Neuroimmunol Neuroinflamm. 2026;13(4):e200581.
3. Nozuma S, Dozono M, Tanaka M, Kodama D, Yoshida T, Higuchi Y, Sakiyama Y, Matsuura E, Matsuzaki T, Takashima H, Kubota R. HTLV-1-Specific CTL Accumulation in CSF Contributes to Neuroinflammation in HTLV-1-Associated Myelopathy. Neurol Neuroimmunol Neuroinflamm. 2026;13(1):e200508.
4. Dozono M, Nozuma S, Hirakata S, Yoshida T, Kodama D, Tanaka M, Matsuura E, Kubota R, Takashima H. Clinical Characteristics of Parkinsonism in HTLV-1-Associated Myelopathy. Annals of clinical and translational neurology. 2025;12(10):1962-70.
5. Nozuma S, Matsuzaki T, Tanaka M, Kodama D, Dozono M, Yoshida T, Takashima H, Kubota R. T-Cell Receptor/CD3 Downregulation and Impaired Signaling in HTLV-1-Infected CD4+ T Cells of HAM Patients. Int J Mol Sci. 2025;26(4).
6. Nozuma S, Yoshimura A, Pai SC, Chen HJ, Matsuura E, Tanaka M, Kodama D, Dozono M, Matsuzaki T, Takashima H, Yang YC, Kubota R. Geographic characteristics of HTLV-1 molecular subgroups and genetic substitutions in East Asia: Insights from complete genome sequencing of HTLV-1 strains isolated in Taiwan and Japan. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2024;18(2):e0011928.
7. Nozuma S, Matsuura E, Tanaka M, Kodama D, Matsuzaki T, Yoshimura A, Sakiyama Y, Nakahata S, Morishita K, Enose-Akahata Y, Jacoboson S, Kubota R, Takashima H. Identification and tracking of HTLV-1-infected T cell clones in virus-associated neurologic disease. JCI Insight. 2023;8(7).
8. Nozuma S, Matsuura E, Tashiro Y, Nagata R, Ando M, Hiramatsu Y, Higuchi Y, Sakiyama Y, Hashiguchi A, Michizono K, Higashi K, Matsuzaki T, Kodama D, Tanaka M, Yamano Y, Moritoyo T, Kubota R, Takashima H. Efficacy of l-Arginine treatment in patients with HTLV-1-associated neurological disease. Annals of clinical and translational neurology. 2023;10(2):237-45.
9. Matsuura E, Nozuma S, Dozono M, Kodama D, Tanaka M, Kubota R, Takashima H. Iliopsoas Muscle Weakness as a Key Diagnostic Marker in HTLV-1-Associated Myelopathy/Tropical Spastic Paraparesis (HAM/TSP). Pathogens. 2023;12(4).
10. Nozuma S, Enose-Akahata Y, Johnson KR, Monaco MC, Ngouth N, Elkahloun A, Ohayon J, Zhu J, Jacobson S. Immunopathogenic CSF TCR repertoire signatures in virus-associated neurologic disease. JCI Insight. 2021;6(4).
11. Nozuma S, Matsuura E, Kodama D, Tashiro Y, Matsuzaki T, Kubota R, Izumo S, Takashima H. Effects of host restriction factors and the HTLV-1 subtype on susceptibility to HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis. Retrovirology. 2017;14(1):26.
12. Nozuma S, Matsuura E, Matsuzaki T, Watanabe O, Kubota R, Izumo S, Takashima H. Familial clusters of HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis. PLoS One. 9(5):e86144, 2014.

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Masakazu TANAKA

1. Tsuchimoto K, Mori A, Tanaka M, Arishima S, Kodama D, Dozono M, Nozuma S, Takashima H, Kubota R. CXCR3/CXCL10 axis-mediated T cell infiltration in the lungs of patients with HTLV-1-associated diseases: implications for subclinical pulmonary involvement. J Med Virol. 98: e70804, 2026.
2. Kurayoshi K, Tanaka M, Nakajima R, Zhou Y, Shirasawa M, Fikriyanti M, Fujisawa JI, Iwanaga R, Bradford AP, Araki K, Ohtani K. Utility of tumor suppressor E2F target gene promoter elements to drive gene expression specifically in cancer cells. Cells. 14: 1953, 2025.
3. Tanaka M, Takenouchi N, Arishima S, Matsuzaki T, Nozuma S, Matsuura E, Takashima H, Kubota R. HLA-A*24 increases the risk of HTLV-1-associated Myelopathy despite reducing HTLV-1 proviral laod. Int J Mol Sci. 25: 6858, 2024.
4. Tanaka M, Yamada M, Mushiake M, Tsuda M, Miwa M. Elucidating differences in early-stage centrosome amplification in primary and immortalized mouse cells. Int J Mol Sci. 25: 383, 2024.
5. Yamashita S, Tanaka M, Ida C, Kouyama K, Nakae S, Matsuki T, Tsuda M, Shirai T, Kamemura K, Nishi Y, Moss J, Miwa M. Physiological levels of poly(ADP-ribose) during the cell cycle regulate Hela cell proliferation. Exp Cell Res. 417: 113163, 2022.
6. Tanaka M, Mushiake M, Takahashi J, Sasaki Y, Yamashita S, Ida C, Masutani M, Miwa M. PARP inhibitor decreases Akt phosphorylation and induces centrosome amplification and chromosomal aneuploidy in CHO-K1 cells. Int J Mol Sci. 23: 3484, 2022.
7. Kodama D, Tanaka M, Matsuzaki T, Nozuma S, Matsuura E, Takashima H, Izumo S, Kubota R. Anti-human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) antibody assays in cerebrospinal fluid for the diagnosis of HTLV-1 associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis. J Clin Microbiol. 59: e03230-20, 2021.
8. Kodama D, Tanaka M, Matsuzaki T, Izumo K, Nakano N, Matsuura E, Saito M, Nagai M, Horiuchi M, Utsunomiya A, Takashima H, Kubota R, Izumo S. Inhibition of ABL1 tyroshine kinase reduces HTLV-1 proviral loads in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis. Plos Neg Trop Dis.14: e0008361, 2020.
9. Takenouchi N, Tanaka M, Sato T, Yao J, Fujisawa J, Izumo S, Kubota R, Matsuura E. Expression of TSLC1 in patients with HAM/TSP. J NeuroVirology. 26: 404-414, 2020.
10. Tanaka M, Kawazu Y, Yoshida T, Konishi T, Takenouchi N, Miwa M. Effects of radiation based on whole-body irradiation in HTLV-1-infected mice. J Radiat Res. 60: 710-713, 2019.
11. Yao J, Tanaka M, Takenouchi N, Ren Y, Lee SI, Fujisawa JI. Induction of APOBEC3B cytidine deaminase in HTLV-1-infected humanized mice. Exp Ther Med. 17: 3701-3708, 2019.
12. Tanaka M, Tanaka K, Ida C, Oue A, Yamashita S, Yao J, Takenouchi N, Miwa M. Conflicting effects of poly(ADP-ribose)polymerase inhibitor on cell-mediated and virion-mediated HTLV-1 infection. Virus Res. 270: 197653, 2019.
13. Yamashita S, Tanaka M, Nodono H, Hamada A, Hamada T, Hasegawa M, Nishi Y, Moss J, Miwa M. Human alcohol dehydrogenase 1 is an acceptor protein for polyADP-ribosylation. Biochem Pharmacol. 167: 27-32, 2019.
14. Yamashita S, Tanaka M, Sato T, Ida C, Ohta N, Hamada T, Uetsuki T, Nishi Y, Moss J, Miwa M. Effect of mild temperature shift on poly(ADP-ribose) and γH2AX levels in cultured cells. Biochem.Biophys.Res.Commun. 476: 594-599, 2016.
15. Tanaka M, Sun B, Tezuka K, Fujisawa JI, Tanaka Y, Hoshino H, Miwa M. Neuraminidase enhances the initial steps of human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 replication. Microbes Infect. 12: 119-125, 2010.

Daisuke KODAMA

1. Kodama D, Saito M, Matsumoto W, Sabouri AH, Izumo S, Arimura K, Usuku K, Bangham CR, Osame M. Longer dinucleotide repeat polymorphism in matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) gene promoter which correlates with higher HTLV-I Tax mediated transcriptional activity influences the risk of HTLV-I associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP). J Neuroimmunol. 156(1-2):188-94, 2004.
2. Umehara F, Yamaguchi N, Kodama D, Takenaga S, Kiwaki T, Sonoda Y, Arimura Y, Yamada H, Arimura K, Osame M. Polyneuropathy with minifascicle formation in a patient with 46XY mixed gonadal dysgenesis. Acta Neuropathol. 98(3):309-12, 1999.
3. Analysis of HTLV-I proviral load in 202 HAM/TSP patients and 243 asymptomatic HTLV-I carriers: high proviral load strongly predisposes to HAM/TSP.
4. Nagai M, Usuku K, Matsumoto W, Kodama D, Takenouchi N, Moritoyo T, Hashiguchi S, Ichinose M, Bangham CR, Izumo S, Osame M. J Neurovirol. 4(6):586-93, 1998.

Shiho ARISIMA

1. Arishima S, Takahashi M, Dozono M, Yoshida T, Nozuma S, Takashima H, Fujii M, Kubota R. Downregulation of the deubiquitinating enzyme USP10 correlates with neuronal apoptosis in HTLV-1-associated myelopathy. Sci Rep. Jan 23;16(1):6062. 2026
2. Tsuchimoto K, Mori A, Tanaka M, Arishima S, Kodama D, Dozono M, Nozuma S, Takashima H, Kubota R.CXCR3/CXCL10 Axis-Mediated T Cell Infiltration in the Lungs of Patients With HTLV-1- Associated Diseases: Implications for Subclinical Pulmonary Involvement.J Med Virol. Jan;98(1):e70804. 2026
3. Tanaka M, Takenouchi N, Arishima S, Matsuzaki T, Nozuma S, Matsuura E, Takashima H, Kubota R.HLA-A*24 Increases the Risk of HTLV-1-Associated Myelopathy despite Reducing HTLV-1 Proviral Load.Int J Mol Sci. Jun 22;25(13):6858. 2024
4. Xing HQ, Zhang Y, Izumo K, Arishima S, Kubota R, Ye X, Xu Q, Mori K, Izumo S.Decrease of aquaporin-4 and excitatory amino acid transporter-2 indicate astrocyte dysfunction for pathogenesis of cortical degeneration in HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders.Neuropathology. 2017 Feb;37(1):25-34.
5. Sakiyama Y, Kanda N, Higuchi Y, Yoshimura M, Wakaguri H, Takata Y, Watanabe O, Yuan J, Tashiro Y, Saigo R, Nozuma S, Yoshimura A, Arishima S, Ikeda K, Shinohara K, Arata H, Michizono K, Higashi K, Hashiguchi A, Okamoto Y, Hirano R, Shiraishi T, Matsuura E, Okubo R, Higuchi I, Goto M, Hirano H, Sano A, Iwasaki T, Matsuda F, Izumo S, Takashima H.New type of encephalomyelitis responsive to trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole treatment in Japan.Neurol Neuroimmunol Neuroinflamm. 2015 Aug 13;2(5)
6. Saito M, Tanaka R, Arishima S, Matsuzaki T, Ishihara S, Tokashiki T, Ohya Y, Takashima H, Umehara F, Izumo S, Tanaka Y.Increased expression of OX40 is associated with progressive disease in patients with HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis.Retrovirology. 2013 May 7;10:51.
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Research Grant List

Satoshi  NOZUMA

Masakazu TANAKA

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