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Field

Integrative Life Sciences :
Cooperative faculties

Research

JAPANESE
Professor TANAKA Kozo
Campus Seiryo campus
Laboratory Molecular Oncology
Tel +81- 022-717-8491
E-mail kozo.tanaka.d2＠tohoku.ac.jp
Website http://www2.idac.tohoku.ac.jp/dep/molonc/index.html
Google Scholar

I have been studying the relationship between chromosomal abnormalities and cancer, since I studied the mechanism of leukemogenesis through chromosomal abnormalities as a hematologist. I am going to address more broadly the relationship between genomic instability and cancer, neurological disorder, and aging.

Career
1991 Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo
1997 Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo
1998 Research Associate, Research Institute for Radiation Biology and Medicine, Hiroshima University
2002 Postdoctoral Research Assistant, School of Life Sciences, University of Dundee
2007 Associate Professor, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University
2011 Current position
Selected Publications
  1. Hara K, Taharazako S, Ikeda M, Fujita H, Mikami Y, Kikuchi S, Hishiki A, Yokoyama H, Ishikawa Y, Kanno SI, Tanaka K, Hashimoto H. Dynamic feature of mitotic arrest deficient 2-like protein 2 (MAD2L2) and structural basis for its interaction with chromosome alignment maintaining phosphoprotein (CAMP). J Biol Chem 292, 17658-17667 (2017).
  2. Ikeda, M, and Tanaka, K. Plk1 bound to Bub1 contributes to spindle assembly checkpoint activity during mitosis. Sci Rep 7, 8794 (2017).
  3. Tanaka, K., and Hirota, T. Chromosomal Instability: A common feature and a therapeutic target of cancer. Biochim Biophys Acta 1866, 64-75 (2016).
  4. Isidor, B., Küry, S., Rosenfeld, JA., Besnard, T., Schmitt, S., Joss, S., Davies, SJ., Lebel, RR., Henderson, A., Schaaf, CP., Streff, HE., Yang, Y., Jain, V., Chida, N, Latypova, X., Caignec, CL., Cogné, B., Mercier, S., Vincent, M., Colin, E., Bonneau, D., Denommé, AS., Parent, P., Gilbert-Dussardier, B., Odent, S., Toutain, A., Piton, A., Dina, C., Donnart, A., Lindenbaum, P., Charpentier, E., Redon, R., Iemura, K., Ikeda, M., Tanaka, K. *, Bézieau, S. * (*corresponding authors). De Novo Truncating Mutations in the kinetochore-microtubules attachment gene CHAMP1 Cause Syndromic Intellectual Disability. Hum Mutat 37, 354-358 (2016).
  5. Iemura K., Tanaka K. Chromokinesin Kid and kinetochore kinesin CENP-E differentially support chromosome congression without end-on attachment to microtubules. Nat Commun 6, 6447 (2015).
  6. Amin MA., Itoh G., Iemura K., Ikeda M., Tanaka K. CLIP-170 recruits PLK1 to kinetochores during early mitosis for chromosome alignment. J Cell Sci 127, 2818-2824 (2014).
  7. Itoh, G., Sugino, S., Ikeda, M., Mizuguchi, M., Kanno, S., I., Amin, MA., Iemura, K., Yasui, A., Hirota, T., and Tanaka, K. The nucleoporin Nup188 is required for chromosome alignment in mitosis. Cancer Sci 104, 871-879 (2013).
  8. Tanaka K. Regulatory mechanisms of kinetochore-microtubule interaction in mitosis. Cell Mol Life Sci 70, 559-579 (2013).
  9. Tanaka, K. Dynamic regulation of kinetochore-microtubule interaction during mitosis. J Biochem 152, 415-424 (2012).
  10. Itoh, G., Kanno, S., Uchida, K., Chiba, S., Sugino, A., Watanabe, K., Mizuno, K., Yasui, A., Hirota, T., and Tanaka, K. CAMP (C13orf8, ZNF828) is a novel regulator of kinetochore-microtubule attachment. EMBO J 30, 130-144 (2011).
  11. Kawashima, S., Nakabayashi, Y., Matsubara, K., Sano, N., Enomoto, T., Tanaka, K.**, Seki, M.**, and Horikoshi, M.* (*corresponding authors). Global analysis of core histones reveals nucleosomal surfaces required for chromosome bi-orientation. EMBO J 30, 3353-3367 (2011).
  12. Kitamura, E.*, Tanaka, K.*, Komoto, S.* (*equally contributors), Kitamura, Y., Antony, C., and Tanaka, TU. Kinetochores generate microtubules with distal plus ends: their roles and limited lifetime in mitosis. Dev Cell 18, 248-259 (2010).
  13. Tanaka, K., and Hirota, T. Chromosome segregation machinery and cancer. Cancer Sci 100, 1158-1165 (2009).
  14. Tanaka K., Kitamura E., Kitamura Y., Tanaka TU. Molecular mechanisms of microtubule-dependent kinetochore transport towards spindle poles. J Cell Biol 178, 269-281 (2007).
  15. Kitamura, E., Tanaka, K., Kitamura, Y., and Tanaka, TU. Kinetochore-microtubule interaction during S phase in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Genes Dev 21, 3319-3330 (2007).
Activities in Academic Societies
The Molecular Biology Society of Japan
The Japanese Biochemical Society
Japanese Cancer Association
Japan Society for Cell Biology
The Japanese Society for Internal Medicine

Recent Activities

Most cancer cells show abnormal number of chromosomes (aneuploidy), which is caused by chromosomal instability, a condition in which chromosome missegregation occurs at a high rate. We are studying how chromosomal instability occurs in cancer cells, and found that alteration in chromosome dynamics during mitosis leads to chromosomal instability. Such alteration might be also related to aging. On the other hand, CAMP (chromosome alignment-maintaining phosphoprotein), a molecule we discovered that is involved in chromosome segregation, was found to be involved in DNA damage repair as well. CAMP is one of the responsible genes for intellectual disability, and we are investigating how these CAMP functions are related to neurological development using knockout mice.

Message to Students

The process of chromosome segregation on the spindle is very dynamic, and has been arousing people’s curiosity for more than hundred years. The excitement has never changed today, even when various mechanisms has been revealed. We are trying to do research without preconceptions, taking care of our intuition derived from observation. Textbooks are not always correct. Tell us secrets we overlooked!

Research