A research group led by Masaaki Komatsu, Deputy Secretariat Researcher, at the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science and Professor Masayuki Yamamoto at Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine has discovered a new production mechanism of red blood cells through a research using genetically-modified mice that Uba5, protein-modifying activating enzyme, is directly involved with blood production. The finding suggests that the enzyme may relate to the development of life-threatening diseases such as anemia and myelodysplastic syndrome caused by hematopoietic abnormality.

 The research has been conducted with the assistance of Grant-in-aid for Scientific Research from Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), and the result has been published online in Nature Communications on February 8, 2011.

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[Contact]

Professor Masayuki Yamamoto

Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine

TEL: +81-22-717-8084

E-mail: masiyamamoto*med.tohoku.ac.jp (Replace * with @)

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Associate Professor Fuji Nagami

Public Relations Office of Tohoku University

Graduate School of Medicine

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