Publications

Lin H, Cheng K, Kubota H, Lan Y, Riedel SS, Kakiuchi K, Sasaki K, Bernt KM, Bartolomei MS, Luo M, Wang PJ. Histone methyltransferase DOT1L is essential for self-renewal of germline stem cells. Genes Dev 36: 752-763, 2022. Histone methyltransferase DOT1L is essential for self-renewal of germline stem cells – PubMed (nih.gov)

Kobayashi M, Odajima J, Shioda K, Hwang YS, Sasaki K, Chatterjee P, Kramme C, Kohman RE, Church GM, Loehr AR, Weiss RS, Jüppner H, Gell JJ, Lau CC, Shioda T. Expanding homogeneous culture of human primordial germ cell-like cells maintaining germline features without serum or feeder layers. Stem Cell Reports 17: 507-521, 2022. PMC35148847, PMIC9039862 Expanding homogeneous culture of human primordial germ cell-like cells maintaining germline features without serum or feeder layers – PubMed (nih.gov)

K. Y. Sakata, K. Cheng, M. Mayama, Y. Seita, A.J. Detlefsen, C.A. Mesaros, T.M. Penning, K. Shishikura, W. Yang, R.J. Auchus, J.F. Strauss III 3rd, K. Sasaki. Reconstitution of human adrenocortical specification and steroidogenesis using induced pluripotent stem cells. Dev Cell (2022) Nov 21. In Press. bioRxiv 2022.10.31.514433; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.10.31.514433

Yasunari Seita, Keren Cheng, John R. McCarrey, Nomesh Yadu, Ian Cheeseman, Alec Bagwell, Corinna N. Ross, Isamar Santana-Toro, Li-Hua Yen, Sean Vargas, Christopher S. Navara, Brian P. Hermann, Kotaro Sasaki. Efficient generation of marmoset primordial germ cell-like cells using induced pluripotent stem cells. bioRxiv 2022.07.25.501382; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.07.25.501382

J. Ito, Y. Seita, S. Kojima, N. F. Parrish, K. Sasaki*, K. Sato*, Endogenous retrovirus rewired the gene regulatory network shared between primordial germ cells and naive pluripotent cells in hominoids. PloS Genetics 2022;18(5):e1009846. PMID: 35551519. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35551519/

K. Cheng, Y. Seita, T. Moriwaki, K. Noshiro, Y. Sakata, Y. S. Hwang, T. Torigoe, M. Saitou, H. Tsuchiya, C. Iwatani, M. Hosaka, T. Ohkouchi, H. Watari, T. Umazume, K. Sasaki, The developmental origin and the specification of the adrenal cortex in humans and cynomolgus monkeys. Science Advances (2022), 8, 8485. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35442744/

Okamoto I, Nakamura T, Sasaki K, Yabuta Y, Iwatani C, Tsuchiya H, Nakamura SI, Ema M, Yamamoto T, Saitou M. The X chromosome dosage compensation program during the development of cynomolgus monkeys. Science. 2021 Nov 19;374(6570):eabd8887. doi: 10.1126/science.abd8887. Epub 2021 Nov 19. PMID: 34793202 The X chromosome dosage compensation program during the development of cynomolgus monkeys – PubMed (nih.gov)

Jumpei Ito, Yasunari Seita, Shohei Kojima, Nicholas F. Parrish, Kotaro Sasaki, Kei Sato. Endogenous retrovirus rewired the gene regulatory network shared between primordial germ cells and naïve pluripotent cells in hominoids. bioRχiv 2021, doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.03.09.434541
(https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.03.09.434541v1)

Kotaro Sasaki, Akiko Oguchi, Keren Cheng, Yasuhiro Murakawa, Ikuhiro Okamoto, Hiroshi Ohta, Yukihiro Yabuta, Chizuru Iwatani, Hideaki Tsuchiya, Takuya Yamamoto, Yasunari Seita, Mitinori Saitou. The embryonic ontogeny of the gonadal somatic cells in mice and monkeys. Cell Rep 2021, 4;35(5):109075
(https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33951437/)

Hwang YS, Suzuki S, Seita Y, et al. Reconstitution of prospermatogonial specification in vitro from human induced pluripotent stem cells. Nature Communications 2020, 9;11(1):5656. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33168808/)

Yamashiro C, Sasaki K, Yokobayashi S, Kojima Y, Saitou M. Generation of human oogonia from induced pluripotent stem cells in culture Nature protocol 2020, 15(4): 1560-1583. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32231324/)

Makar K, Sasaki K. Roadmap of germline development and in vitro gametogenesis from pluripotent stem cells. Andrology 2019, doi: 10.1111/andr.12726. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31705609/)

Yamashiro, C., Sasaki, K., Yabuta, Y., Kojima, Y., Nakamura, T., Okamoto, I., Yokobayashi, S., Murase, Y., Ishikura, Y., Shirane, K., Sasaki, H., Yamamoto, T., Saitou, M. Generation of human oogonia from induced pluripotent stem cells in vitro. Science 2018, 362(6412):356-360. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30237246/)

Miyauchi H, Ohta H, Nagaoka S, Nakaki F, Sasaki K, Hayashi K, Yabuta Y, Nakamura T, Yamamoto T, Saitou M. Bone morphogenetic protein and retinoic acid synergistically specify female germ-cell fate in mice. EMBO J. 2017, 36(21):3100-3119. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28928204/)

Kojima Y, Sasaki K, Yokobayashi S, Sakai Y, Nakamura T, Yabuta Y, Nakaki F, Nagaoka S, Woltjen K, Hotta A, Yamamoto T, Saitou M. Evolutionarily Distinctive Transcriptional and Signaling Programs Drive Human Germ Cell Lineage Specification from Pluripotent Stem Cells. Cell Stem Cell. 2017, 21(4):517-532. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28985527/)

Nakamura T, Yabuta Y, Okamoto I, Sasaki K, Iwatani C, Tsuchiya H, Saitou M. Single-cell transcriptome of early embryos and cultured embryonic stem cells of cynomolgus monkeys. Sci Data. 2017, 4:170067. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28649393/)

Sasaki K, Nakamura T, Okamoto I, Yabuta Y, Iwatani C, Tsuchiya H, Shiraki N, Takakuwa T, Yamamoto T, Seita Y, Nakamura S, Saitou M. The germ cell fate of cynomolgus monkeys is specified in the nascent amnion. Dev. Cell. 2016, 39(2):169-185. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27720607/)

Nakamura T, Okamoto I, Sasaki K, Yabuta Y, Iwatani C, Tsuchiya H, Seita Y, Nakamura S, Yamamoto T, Saitou M. A developmental coordinate of pluripotency among mice, monkeys and humans. Nature. 2016, 537(7618):57-62. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27556940/)

Sasaki K, Yokobayashi S, Nakamura T, Okamoto I, Yabuta Y, Kurimoto K, Ohta H, Moritoki Y, Iwatani C, Tsuchiya H, Nakamura S, Sekiguchi K, Sakuma T, Yamamoto T, Mori T, Woltjen K, Nakagawa M, Yamamoto T, Takahashi K, Yamanaka S, Saitou M. Robust in vitro induction of human germ cell fate from pluripotent stem cells. Cell Stem Cell. 2015, 17(2):178-194. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26189426/)

Dai D*, Sasaki K*, Lin MY, Smith KD, Nicosia RF, Alpers CE, Najafian B. Interstitial eosinophilic aggregates in diabetic nephropathy: allergy or not? Nephrol Dial Transplant. 2015, 30(8):1370-1376. *equal contribution (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25813275/)

Sis B, Bagnasco SM, Cornell LD, Randhawa P, Haas M, Lategan B, Magil AB, Herzenberg AM, Gibson IW, Kuperman M, Sasaki K, Kraus ES. Isolated endarteritis and kidney transplant survival: A multicenter collaborative study. J Am Soc Nephrol. 2015, 26(5):1216-1227. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25381427/)

Sasaki K, Anderson E, Shankland SJ, Nicosia RF. Diffuse proliferative glomerulonephritis associated with Cetuximab, an epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitor. Am J Kidney Dis. 2013, 61(6): 988-991. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23474009/)

Sasaki K, Chang A, Najafian B. Indolent systemic mastocytosis associated with light chain deposition disease. Clin Kidney J. 2012, 5(5): 424-427. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26019820/)

Sasaki K, Kumar A, Chenal ME, Nicosia RF. Intraglomerular micrometastasis of squamous cell carcinoma. Clin Kidney J. 2012, 5(4):292-296. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25874083/)

Sasaki K, Bastacky SI, Hrebinko RL, Parwani AV, Zynger DL. Glomus tumor of the kidney: Case report and literature review. Int J Surg Pathol. 2011, 19(3):393-397. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19164408/)

Sasaki K, Parwani AV, Demetris AJ, Sasatomi E. Heterotopic breast epithelial inclusion of the heart: report of a case. Am J Surg Pathol. 2010; 34(10):1555-1559. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20717001/)

Sasaki K, Desimone M, Rao HR, Huang GJ, Seethala RR. Adrenocortical carcinosarcoma: a case report and review of the literature. Diagn Pathol. 2010, 5;5:51. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20687934/)

Sasaki K, Kohanbash G, Hoji A, Ueda R, McDonald HA, Reinhart TA, Martinson J, Lotze MT, Marincola FM, Wang E, Fujita M and Okada H. MiR-17-92 expression in differentiated T cells – implications for cancer immunotherapy. J Transl Med. 2010, 18; 8:17. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20167088/)

Sasaki K, Bastacky SI, Zynger DL, Parwani AV. Use of immunohistochemical markers to confirm the presence of vas deferens in vasectomy specimen. Am J Clin Pathol. 2009, 132 (6):893-898. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19926581/)

Ueda R, Fujita M, Zhu X, Sasaki K, Kastenhuber ER, Kohanbash G, McDonald HA, Harper J, Lonning S, Okada H. Systemic inhibition of transforming growth factor-beta in glioma-bearing mice improves the therapeutic efficacy of glioma-asociated antigen peptide vaccine. Clin Cancer Res. 2009, 15(21):6551-6559. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19861464/)

Sasaki K, Pardee AD, Qu Y, Zhao X, Ueda R, Kohanbash G, Bailey, LM, Okada H, Muthuswamy R, Kalinski P, Basse PH, Falo LD, Storkus WJ. IL-4 suppresses Very Late Antigen-4 expression which is required for therapeutic Th1 T cell trafficking into tumors. J Immunother. 2009, 32(8):793-802. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19752754/)

Ueda R, Kohanbash G, Sasaki K, Fujita M, Zhu X, Kastenhuber E, McDonald HA, Potter DM, Lotze MT, Khan S, Sobol R, Okada H. Dicer-regulated microRNAs 222 and 339 promote resistance of cancer cells to cytotoxic T-lymphocytes by down-regulating ICAM-1 expression. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2009, 106(26):10746-10751. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19520829/)

Fujita M, Zhu X, Ueda R, Sasaki K, Kohanbash G, Kastenhuber ER, McDonald HA, Gibson GA, Watkins SC, Muthuswamy R, Kalinski P, Okada H. Effective immunotherapy against murine glioma using type 1 polarizing dendritic cells-Significant roles of CXCL10. Cancer Res. 2009, 69(4):1587-1595. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19190335/)

Sasaki K, Pardee AD, Okada H, Storkus WJ. IL-4 inhibits VLA-4 expression on Tc1 cells resulting in poor tumor infiltration and reduced therapy benefit. Eur J Immunol. 2008, 38(10):2865-2873. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18958887/)

Sasaki K, Zhao Z, Pardee AD, Ueda R, Fujita M, Sehra S, Kaplan MH, Kane LP, Okada H, Storkus WJ. Stat6 signaling suppresses VLA-4 expression by CD8+ T cells limits their ability to infiltrate tumor lesions in vivo. J Immunol. 2008, 181(1):104-108. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18566374/)

Fujita M, Zhu X, Sasaki K, Ueda R, Low KL, Pollack IF, Okada H. Inhibition of STAT3 promotes the efficacy of adoptive transfer therapy using type-1 CTLs by modulation of the immunological microenvironment in a murine intracranial glioma. J Immunol. 2008, 180(4):2089-2098. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18250414/)

Ueda R, low KL, Zhu X, Fujita M, Sasaki K, Whiteside TL, Butterfield LH, Okada H. Spontaneous immune responses against glioma-associated antigens in a long term survivor with malignant glioma. J Transl Med. 2007, 5(1):68. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18093336/)

Nakamura Y, Watchmaker P, Urban J, Sheridan B, Giermasz A, Nishimura F, Sasaki K, Cumberland R, Muthuswamy R, Mailliard RB, Larregina AT, Falo LD, Gooding W, Storkus WJ, Okada H, Hendricks RL, Kalinski P. Helper function of memory CD8+ T cells: heterologous CD8+ T cells support the induction of therapeutic cancer immunity. Cancer Res. 2007, 67 (20): 10012-10018. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17942935/)

Sasaki K, Zhu X, Vasquez C, Nishimura F, Dusak JE, Huang J, Fujita M, Wesa A, Potter DM, Walker PR, Storkus WJ, Okada H. Preferential expression of very late antigen-4 on type 1 CTL cells plays a critical role in trafficking into central nervous system tumors. Cancer Res. 2007, 67(13):6451-6458. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17616706/)

Zhu X, Nishimura F, Sasaki K, Fujita M, Dusak JE, Eguchi J, Fellows-Mayle W, Storkus WJ, Walker PR, Salazar AM, Okada H. Toll like receptor-3 ligand poly-ICLC promotes the efficacy of peripheral vaccinations with tumor antigen-derived peptide epitopes in murine CNS tumor models. J Transl Med. 2007, 5:10. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17295916/)

Sasaki K, Tsuji T, Jinushi T, Matsuzaki J, Sato T, Chamoto K, Togashi Y, Koda T, Nishimura T. Differential regulation of VLA-2 expression on Th1 and Th2 cells: a novel marker for the classification of Th subsets. Int Immunol. 2003, 15(6):701-710. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12750354/)

Sasaki K. Artificial Oocyte and Artificial Ovary Development. In: Bukulmez O. (eds) Diminished Ovarian Reserve and Assisted Reproductive Technologies. 2020 Springer, Cham

K Makar, K Sasaki. Roadmap of germline development and in vitro gametogenesis from pluripotent stem cells. Andrology 2019, doi: 10.1111/andr.12726.

K Sasaki, M. Sangrithi. Developmental origins of mammalian spermatogonial stem cells: New perspectives on epigenetic regulation and sex chromosome function. Mol Cell Endocrinol. 2023 May 16;111949. doi: 10.1016/j.mce.2023.111949.

J Hargy, K Sasaki. The developmental dynamics of the human male germline. Development. 2023 Sep 1;150(17):dev202046. doi: 10.1242/dev.202046. Epub 2023 Aug 31. PMID: 37650565.