Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Support

The beta-amyloid deposition level in the brain, which gradually changes as Alzheimer's disease progresses, is used as an indicator for determining and monitoring how far the disease has progressed. Currently, PET imaging scans and cerebrospinal fluid examinations are the only two methods currently available for detecting beta-amyloid levels. However, PET scans are expensive and only available from a limited number of facilities, whereas acquiring cerebrospinal fluid is a highly invasive procedure. Therefore, in response to a growing need for a low-cost and easy examination method, we developed a method that can be used to screen a larger number of people based on blood tests. In 2014, Shimadzu Corporation and the National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology discovered a peptide ratio that is effective as a blood biomarker for detecting Alzheimer's lesions by IP-MS.
Furthermore, a composite biomarker was developed by combining that biomarker with another peptide ratio.
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https://www.shimadzu.com/advanced-healthcare/case/03.html

Shimadzu’s Response to Cancer

Cancer is a very familiar disease that makes us uneasy. Today, there are a variety of treatments for cancer and they are improving day by day. Shimadzu supports cancer research and treatment with various technologies, including joint research on near-infrared photoimmunotherapy, a new type of cancer treatment. We will continue to contribute to the medical care of cancer through ultra-early examination, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis.

Cancer Photoimmunotherapy Research

Cancer photoimmunotherapy is a new treatment technique that involves selectively binding the antibody portion of a therapeutic drug to proteins uniquely present on the surface of cancer cells and then killing only the cancer cells by irradiating the area with near-infrared light, so that the photosensitive portion of the therapeutic drug reacts to the light.
Given that the treatment method also helps the immune system attack cancer cells by stimulating immune cells, practical applications are anticipated. During basic research, an NIR-PIT near-infrared camera was used to create a system for evaluating the therapeutic effects in real time.
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https://www.shimadzu.com/advanced-healthcare/case/01.html

Mass Spectrometry Based Biomarker Discovery and Support for Clinical Research

Biomarker discovery provides important information in furthering the understanding of disease incidence and progression of various diseases. Research for new biomarkers that provide additional information regarding disease progression, classification or subtyping has become an increasingly important area in recent years.
Mass spectrometry plays a critical role in biomarker research, and many of these newly discovered biomarkers have gone on to become clinical diagnostic assays positively impacting human health.
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https://www.shimadzu.com/advanced-healthcare/case/05.html

Development of AVS Support System for Primary Aldosteronism

Sampling the adrenal vein is an effective means of determining a treatment plan for primary aldosteronism, but it can take several days to obtain results. Furthermore, samples are acquired from multiple locations. That has resulted in problems due to the difficulty in integrating image information with measurement results and managing the data.The AVS support system for primary aldosteronism marks adrenal vein images with the locations where blood was acquired from adrenal veins during sampling and displays measurement results linked to those marked locations. Consequently, the system enables an accurate understanding of measurement results at each adrenal vein location from only a glance.
For more information, please visit
https://www.shimadzu.com/advanced-healthcare/case/02.html

Significance and application field of brain function measurement

Brain-function imaging is drawing attention as a new technique for measuring brain activity under close to everyday conditions, particularly for neuroscience research. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) enables measurements of cerebral functions under close to everyday conditions. As a result, it expands the possibilities of brain function research in various fields, such as Rehabilitation Research and Drug Discovery/Medical Research, including neuroscience, psychiatry and neonatal brain function.
For more information, please visit
https://www.shimadzu.com/advanced-healthcare/case/06.html