Report on the 28th annual meeting of the Japanese Association for Developmental and Comparative Immunology (JADCI), August 18-20, 2016, Tokyo Medical & Dental University, Tokyo (Local Organizer: Haruhisa Wago, Saitama Medical University. Local Secretary-Treasurers: Hiroaki Nakamura and Michiyo Kimura, Tokyo Dental College and Saitama Medical University)



The 28th annual meeting of the Japanese Association for Developmental and Comparative Immunology (JADCI)was held on August 18-20, 2016, at Tokyo Medical & Dental University, Tokyo. Seventy-one scientists including graduate students attended this meeting to discuss the host defense mechanisms of invertebrates and vertebrates. The meeting featured a special lecture and two symposia. Additionally, there were 20 general oral presentations, followed by the active discussion.


Special lecture: Dr. Kenjiro Wake(Tokyo Medical & Dental University). From the theory of the reticulo-endothelial system to natural immunity - with much attention to sinusoidal cells in the liver.
In this special lecture, the valuable studies on the phagocytosis performed by Elie Metchnikoff were first reported. Then, a series of theories on the reticulo-endothelial system (RES) were mentioned in relation to the theories advanced by Kiyono and Aschoff. Next, the mononuclear phagocytic system (MPS) introduced by van Furth was explained as an opposite theory against RES. Finally, it was re-considered that RES in the liver played an important role as the scavenger endothelial cell system, leading to a natural immunity functioning as a homeostasis.


Symposium I : " ONKO-SOSHIN* in comparative immunological researches "
SI1. Phylogeny and evolution of hemolymph coagulation - from horseshoe crabs to mammals -. (Shun-ichiro Kawabata, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Kyushu University)

SI2. Pattern recognition in insect immunity. (Shoichiro Kurata, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tohoku University)
SI3. Defense system in starfish larva. (Ryohei Furukawa, Iwate Tohoku Megabank Organization, Iwate Medical University)
SI4. Diversity of fish skin mucus lectin. (Shigeyuki Tsutsui, School of Marine Biosciences, Kitasato University)
*ONKO-SOSHIN in Japanese means the creation of a new truth or reason by reviewing the old scientific history.


Symposium II : "Immune mechanisms of symbiosis and parasitism in invertebrates"

SII1. Symbioses in marine organisms. (Tadashi Maruyama, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology)
SII2. Evasion of host immune defenses by a polyembryonic parasitic wasp. (Kikuo Iwabuchi, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology)
SII3. Adaptive mechanisms of Burkholderia symbiont in the gut of Riptortus host. (Jiyeun Kate Kim and Bok Luel Lee, College of Medicine of Kosin University and College of Pharmacy of Pusan National University, Korea)


General presentations:

Twenty oral presentations involved in the host defenses of fish, arthropods, molluscs, echinoderms and mammals were made over the 2 days.


The winner of the Award of the ' Furuta Excellent Scientific Papers' was Dr. Ryohei Furukawa at Iwate Tohoku Megabank Organization of Iwate Medical University. (Two macrophage migration factors regulate starfish larval immune cell chemotaxis.)


The winner of the Furuta Young Investigator Award was Mr.Hiroki Nagai at Tohoku University.
(Autophagic regulation of the homeostatic responses to enteric bacteria in Drosophila midgut.)