Snapshot of GI medicine in Japan

Abstract

There are more than 10 major gastroenterology and hepatology societies in Japan, all of which are independent foundations, supported solely by membership dues. Each society convenes annual meetings, and the past decade has witnessed explosive growth in the number of gastroenterologists. There are 5 GI societies, including 3 major groups: The Japanese Society of Gastroenterology (http://www.jsge.or.jp/index.html), Japan Gastroenterological Endoscopy Society (http://www.jges.net/), and The Japan Society of Hepatology (http://www.jsh.or.jp/). In terms of research funding, most support in Japan comes from pharmaceutical companies, as government support is quite limited in comparison with the United States. Some basic scientists do receive extensive funding from government agencies, such as the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare; the Ministry of Science and Education; or from several foundations with government ties. Still, GI faculties involved in clinical and basic GI research can obtain smaller grants from government agencies and foundations. Topics of regenerative medicine are being watched with keen interest in medical science. Last year, the Japanese Society of Regenerative Medicine (http://wwwsoc.nii.ac.jp/jsrm/Japanese/index.html) was established. The main gastroenterology area of interest is liver-targeted regenerative medicine using hepatocyte growth factor or embryonic stem cells for transplant bridge, differentiation of pancreatic beta cells from stem cells, or the differentiation of intestinal stem cells into beta cells by pdx1 overexpression. However, since it has been demonstrated that bone marrow cells can repopulate the epithelia of the human gastrointestinal tract (Watanabe et al., Nature Medicine 2002;8:1011-1017), a potential of bone marrow-derived stem cells for repairing severely damaged epithelia in the gastrointestinal tract will also provide new insights into the clinical applications of regenerative medicine.