Kyudai News No26 page 9/28

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Kyudai News No26

opportunity to see His Majesty upclose and to hear him speak, I feltthoroughly glad to be Japanese. I’mtremendously grateful to have beenpraised in this way and feel that whatthis award is saying is not only, “Welldone, you’ve worked really hard,” butalso, “Keep up the good work.” I thinkof this award as being received notonly by me but also by the youngpeople I work with, and I’m sure thatthis will encourage them to work evenharder. In addition, I’d like to show mygratitude by doing my utmost forKyushu University.Tackling the mechanismbehind the worst pain thata person can sufferNow I’d like to ask about theachievements that have been praisedso highly. Neuropathic pain resultsfrom a variety of medical conditions,including cancer, diabetes, stroke,and AIDS, and is said to be the mostexcruciating pain that a person canexperience. I understand that you’vemade a world-class discoveryregarding the mechanism behind it.I feel a bit embarrassed when peopleput it like that, but yes, that’s the case.Apparently, more than 22 millionpatients around the world sufferfrom this pain. Why did you focus onthis type of pain in particular?I believe that the number of patients isactually even higher now. Originally,my research focused on nerves. I wasinvestigating the mechanisms ofneurotransmission and I learned thatone of the mechanisms for conveyingthis information involved a chemicalsubstance called ATP.What is ATP?ATP stands for adenosine triphosphate,which could be described as the energysource of cells and is produced by themitochondria. It adds a phosphategroup to various proteins in cells in aprocess called phosphorylation, whichis what keeps organisms alive. It’s a bitstrange that such a crucial substanceshould be used as a transmitter outsidecells, but anyway I studied that such amechanism existed. I’d been studyingthe physiological significance of ATPfor a long time, but in 1995 the journalNature carried a report stating that oneATP receptor was only expressed innerves transmitting pain. This waswhat triggered my decision to expandthe scope of my research into ATPreceptors to include pain as well, sincethe two seemed to be related.And that’s what led you intostudying neuropathic pain, isn’t it?In general, pain can be controlled withmorphine, but there are some kinds ofpain on which morphine doesn’t work.Neuropathic pain is one of these. Thestrangest phenomenon is that even asilk gown, which should feel pleasant,causes the patient to feel pain when ittouches the skin. I heard that manypatients were suffering because therewere no drugs that were effectiveagainst such pain, and I concluded thatthe reason why no effective drugs hadbeen discovered was that themechanism wasn’t properlyunderstood. That’s when we all startedstudying the mechanism behindneuropathic pain.Awards　　2007 Science and Technology Prize, MEXTMinisterOs Awards (Ministry of Education,Culture, Sports, Science and Technology)2010 Setsuro Ebashi Award(Japanese Pharmacological Society)2013 Pharmaceutical Society of Japan Award(Pharmaceutical Society of Japan)2014 Medal with Purple RibbonThe Medal with Purple RibbonThe Medal with Purple Ribbon is conferred on thosewho have achieved inventions or discoveries in thefield of science and technology, or who havedemonstrated outstanding performance in the fieldof academia, sports, or arts and culture. The medalis a circular medallion decorated with a pattern ofcherry blossoms and is attached to a purple ribbon,as the name suggests.Special InterviewInterviewerExecutive Vice PresidentYumiko YamagataKyudai News No.26 8