Asubio Pharma Co. Ltd.

Keiichi Fukuda

Keijiro Sugimura

Mayumi Furuya

Ryuichi Morishita

Hideyuki Okano

Fumiyuki Hattori

Shinsuke Yuasa

Naruto Katsuragi

Uichi Koshimizu

Tomofumi Tanaka

Kayoko Kawashima

Takuya Shimazaki

The present invention provides methods for screening drugs inhibiting the expression of OSF-2 gene or the production or function of the protein encoded thereby and therapeutic agents for heart failure having such effects. Useful methods for diagnosing heart failure can be provided by monitoring the expression or variation of said gene or the production of the protein encoded thereby. The present invention also provides transgenic animals with forced expression of OSF-2 gene and methods for studying changes in gene expression or protein production or the functions of various genes or proteins with the progress of the pathology of heart failure using them and novel therapeutic agents for heart failure.

Remedies for heart failure

For a method of inducing differentiation of cardiomyocytes from stem cells, a method is provided to induce efficiently and selectively differentiation of cardiomyocytes by such a method in which the stem cells are cultured to induce differentiation into cardiomyocytes in the presence of a substance that inhibits BMP signaling.

Method of inducing the differentiation of stem cells into myocardial cells

A prophylactic or therapeutic method for a disease associated with decreased expression of AOP-1 gene or AOP-1, comprising (1) transfecting a nucleic acid encoding AOP-1 or a nucleic acid encoding a polypeptide having an addition, deletion or substitution of one or more amino acids as compared with the amino acid sequence of AOP-1 while retaining the function of AOP-1, or (2) administering a material enhancing the expression of AOP-1 gene, a material enhancing the production of AOP-1 or a material enhancing the function of AOP-1.

Therapeutic methods and agents for diseases associated with decreased expression of AOP-1 gene or AOP-1

Growing community of inventors

Ibaraki, Japan

Keijiro Sugimura