Arata Azuma

Title: Professor Emeritus

Citizenship: Japanese

Education

1983: Graduated from Nippon Medical School
1983-88: Resident (Pulmonary medicine, Clinical oncology)
1989-91: Research work (Department of Immunology, Juntendo University)
1991: MD, PhD, Nippon Medical School, Tokyo, Japan

Academic Career

1994 – present: Secretary General of the ‘Research Group on Novel Effects of Macrolides’
1996: Assistant Professor of Pulmonary Medicine, Nippon Medical School
1999 – present: Member of a research group of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Labor(MHWL) of JAPAN (Research on Pathogenesis of Diffuse Parenchymal Lung Diseases)
2002 – present: Member of a research group of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Labor of JAPAN (Strategy for Clinical Research on Treatment of Idiopathic Interstitial Pneumonias)
April 2002 – present: Member of the International Committee Meeting of the Japanese Respiratory Society
2004: Associate professor of Pulmonary medicine, Nippon medical School
2008: Visiting Professor of Tongji University, School of Medicien (Shanghai)
2008.10: Professor of Graduate School of Medicine, Department of Pulmonary, Infection and Oncology in Nippon Medical School
2010 to 2012: National Delegate of ERS-Japan
2010. 4: Director of Asian Pacific Thoracic Academy (APTA)
2011. 1: WASOG vice president
2011. 3: Global Steering Committee member for INPULSIS trial
2011. 6: PMDA committee member for survey of adverse drug reaction
2013. 4: Visiting Professor of National University of Mie
2013. 4: Associate Editor of Respirology Case Reports Journal
2013. 12: Part-time Assistant Professor of National University of Kyoto
2016. 4: Research Associate of National University of Mie
2016. 5: Visiting Professor of Nevada University
2017.10-2020.10: President of WASOG
2018.10: Education Committee Chair of APSR
2019.10: Conference Chair of WASOG/JSSOG in Japan
2023.4: Chair of Respiratory Medicine and Clinical Research Center, Mihara General Hospital
2023.9: President of JSSOG

Awards, Honors and Foundation officer

July 2000: Research on Pulmonary Fibrosis Award (Okamoto Award)
August 2002: Award for Research on Diffuse Lung Diseases (from Nippon Medical School)
2016. 6: Auditor of Japanese Respiratory Foundation
2019.11: Harasawa Memorial Award of APSR
2023. 9: President of JSSOG

Job Title

Director of Respiratory Medicine and Clinical Research Center

Faculty / Department / Division

Clinical Research Center

Institution / Organisation

Mihara General Hospital

21 November 2026, Saturday

Time	Session

14:00 15:30	S22: Emerging Molecular Insights into the Pathogenesis of Respiratory Diseases Hsing-Chen Tsai Chairperson Taiwan Precision Insights Into Pulmonary Fibrosis: From Biology to Therapy Arata Azuma Speaker Japan Susceptibility to Pulmonary Diseases Namkoong Ho Speaker Japan "Understanding host genetic susceptibility is crucial for unraveling the pathogenesis of infectious pulmonary diseases and developing personalized clinical strategies. In the first part of this presentation, we focus on severe COVID-19. Through a genome-wide association study (GWAS) in a Japanese cohort, we identified a risk variant at 5q35 (rs60200309-A) near DOCK2, which is associated with severe COVID-19 in patients under 65 years of age. Single-cell RNA sequencing and functional analyses revealed cell-type-specific downregulation of DOCK2 in non-classical monocytes, leading to impaired macrophage recruitment and dysregulated type I interferon responses. Importantly, this risk allele is prevalent in East Asians but rare in Europeans, underscoring the critical need for genetic studies in non-European populations(Namkoong, et al. Nature 2022.). In the second part, we transition to nontuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary disease (NTM-PD). By expanding our genomic investigation to multinational cohorts across Korea, Japan, and Europe, we identified and validated three susceptibility loci (IL1Rs, PDE8B, and PRKCB). Furthermore, Mendelian randomization analysis demonstrated a significant negative causal relationship between body mass index (BMI) and NTM-PD susceptibility(Park, et al. Am J Respir Crit Care Med . 2025). Together, these findings highlight that establishing multinational and multi-ethnic cohorts is indispensable for precision respirology, as it allows us to uncover both population-specific risk variants and globally conserved host mechanisms in respiratory infections." Uncovering New Molecular Drivers of Acute Lung Injury: Implications for Therapeutic Targeting Koji Sakamoto Speaker Japan Acute lung injury (ALI), including acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), is a life-threatening syndrome triggered by systemic insults such as infection or trauma. It is characterized by intense pulmonary inflammation and increased vascular permeability that disrupt gas exchange. Despite decades of investigation, therapeutic strategies targeting aberrantly activated inflammatory cells, including corticosteroids, have produced inconsistent clinical benefits, underscoring the need for new mechanistic insights and therapeutic targets. Recent advances in innate immunology have begun to reveal pathways that regulate the dysregulated activation of phagocytes such as neutrophils and macrophages, highlighting previously unrecognized drivers of inflammatory tissue injury. In this lecture, I will discuss emerging mechanisms that amplify lung inflammation, with particular emphasis on inflammatory feedback loops between neutrophils and macrophages and on DNA-triggered inflammatory signaling pathways as potential drivers of organ injury, integrating insights from our recent studies. Q&A Ballroom 1, Lower Ground Floor

Time

Session

14:00

15:30

S22: Emerging Molecular Insights into the Pathogenesis of Respiratory Diseases

Hsing-Chen Tsai Chairperson Taiwan

Precision Insights Into Pulmonary Fibrosis: From Biology to Therapy

Arata Azuma Speaker Japan
Susceptibility to Pulmonary Diseases

Namkoong Ho Speaker Japan

"Understanding host genetic susceptibility is crucial for unraveling the pathogenesis of infectious pulmonary diseases and developing personalized clinical strategies. In the first part of this presentation, we focus on severe COVID-19. Through a genome-wide association study (GWAS) in a Japanese cohort, we identified a risk variant at 5q35 (rs60200309-A) near DOCK2, which is associated with severe COVID-19 in patients under 65 years of age. Single-cell RNA sequencing and functional analyses revealed cell-type-specific downregulation of DOCK2 in non-classical monocytes, leading to impaired macrophage recruitment and dysregulated type I interferon responses. Importantly, this risk allele is prevalent in East Asians but rare in Europeans, underscoring the critical need for genetic studies in non-European populations(Namkoong, et al. Nature 2022.). In the second part, we transition to nontuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary disease (NTM-PD). By expanding our genomic investigation to multinational cohorts across Korea, Japan, and Europe, we identified and validated three susceptibility loci (IL1Rs, PDE8B, and PRKCB). Furthermore, Mendelian randomization analysis demonstrated a significant negative causal relationship between body mass index (BMI) and NTM-PD susceptibility(Park, et al. Am J Respir Crit Care Med . 2025). Together, these findings highlight that establishing multinational and multi-ethnic cohorts is indispensable for precision respirology, as it allows us to uncover both population-specific risk variants and globally conserved host mechanisms in respiratory infections."
Uncovering New Molecular Drivers of Acute Lung Injury: Implications for Therapeutic Targeting

Koji Sakamoto Speaker Japan

Acute lung injury (ALI), including acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), is a life-threatening syndrome triggered by systemic insults such as infection or trauma. It is characterized by intense pulmonary inflammation and increased vascular permeability that disrupt gas exchange. Despite decades of investigation, therapeutic strategies targeting aberrantly activated inflammatory cells, including corticosteroids, have produced inconsistent clinical benefits, underscoring the need for new mechanistic insights and therapeutic targets. Recent advances in innate immunology have begun to reveal pathways that regulate the dysregulated activation of phagocytes such as neutrophils and macrophages, highlighting previously unrecognized drivers of inflammatory tissue injury. In this lecture, I will discuss emerging mechanisms that amplify lung inflammation, with particular emphasis on inflammatory feedback loops between neutrophils and macrophages and on DNA-triggered inflammatory signaling pathways as potential drivers of organ injury, integrating insights from our recent studies.
Q&A

Ballroom 1, Lower Ground Floor

21 November 2026, Saturday

We use cookies