Akinori Murakami
| Position | Assistant Professor |
|---|---|
| Group name | Ueno Group |
| Research Field | Human Immunology, Autoimmune diseases |
| ORCID | https://orcid.org/0009-0002-4666-5326 |
| Joined | 2025/04/01 |
Research Overview
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease characterized by synovial inflammation and progressive joint destruction, with CD4⁺ T cells playing a central role in its pathogenesis. Although previous studies have demonstrated that Th17 cells are critical in autoimmune mouse models, therapeutic strategies targeting CD4+ T cell-derived humoral factors, including IL-17, have shown limited efficacy in human RA. Therefore, the specific CD4⁺ T cell subsets and humoral factors that regulate inflammation in human RA remain incompletely understood. To address this issue, we are performing single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) analyses of CD4⁺ T cells isolated from the synovial tissue of RA patients, aiming to identify CD4⁺ T cell subsets and humoral factors that regulate inflammation in human RA.
Biography
Akinori Murakami graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at Kyoto University in 2014. After working as an orthopedic surgeon, he entered PhD program at the Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University in 2020. He was appointed as a Researcher at the Kyoto University Immunomonitoring Center in 2024 and as an Assistant Professor at the Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Biology in 2025.
Publications
Umemoto A, Ito H, Azukizawa M, Murata K, Tanaka M, Fujii T, Onishi A, Onizawa H, Ishie S, Murakami A, Nishitani K, Murakami K, Yoshitomi H, Hashimoto M, Morinobu A, Matsuda S. How do symptoms of each joint contribute to global pain, disease activity and functional disability in rheumatoid arthritis?-A comprehensive association study using a large cohort. PLoS One. 2023 Aug 25;18(8):e0285227.
Yoshida S, Nishitani K, Yoshitomi H, Kuriyama S, Nakamura S, Fujii T, Saito M, Kobori Y, Murakami A, Murata K, Ito H, Ueno H, Matsuda S. Knee Alignment Correction by High Tibial Osteotomy Reduces Symptoms and Synovial Inflammation in Knee Osteoarthritis Accompanied by Macrophage Phenotypic Change From M1 to M2. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2023 Jun;75(6):950-960.