Dr. Matsui received his medical degree from Jikei University School of Medicine in Tokyo JAPAN and a PhD from Dept of Pharmacology, Jikei University. He completed his residency before acquiring his PhD and went on to serve as Assistant in Cardiology at Jikei University until coming to the US. In 1995, he joined Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Cardiovascular Research Center as a research fellow. Dr. Matsui then went on to serve as Instructor in Medicine at MGH and Harvard Medical School, followed by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) until 2006, where he took on the role of Assistant Professor of Medicine in Cardiovascular Research. In 2010, Dr. Matsui joined the JABSOM faculty at University of Hawai‘i at Manoa.
Our research is focused on cell survival signaling pathway in cardiomyocytes, especially cardioprotective effects against pathological settings such as ischemia. We demonstrated that the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) is necessary and sufficient for cardiomyocyte protection against iron-mediated cell death that includes excessive iron-induced cell death and ferroptosis, an iron-dependent form of regulated cell death. This is the first report that ferroptosis is a significant type of cell death in cardiomyocytes. We are defining the pathophysiological role of ferroptosis in cardiac disease, including acute myocardial infarction and cardiac hypertrophy.
Kawasaki NK, Suhara T, Komai K, Shimada BK, Yorichika N, Kobayashi M, Baba Y, Higa JK, Matsui T*. The role of ferroptosis in cell-to-cell propagation of cell death initiated from focal injury in cardiomyocytes. Life Sci. 2023:122113. Doi:10.1016/j.lfs.2023.122113
Yang X, Kawasaki NK, Min J*, Matsui T*, Wang F*. Ferroptosis in heart failure. J Mol Cell Cardiol. 2022;173:141-153. Doi:10.1016/j.yjmcc.2022.10.004. PMID: 36273661
Mishra PK, Adameova A, Hill AJ, Baines CP, Kang P, Dawney JM, Narula J, Takahashi M, Abbate A, Piristine H, Su S, Higa JK, Kawasaki NK, Matsui T. Guidelines for evaluating myocardial cell death. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 317: H891-H922, 2019. doi: 10.1152/ajpheart.00259.2019. PMID: 3141859
Baba Y, Higa JK, Shimada BK, Horiuchi KM, Suhara T, Kobayashi M, Woo JD, Aoyagi H, Marh KS, Kitaoka H, Matsui T*. Protective effects of the mechanistic target of rapamycin against excess iron and ferroptosis in cardiomyocytes. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2018;314:H659-H668 [selected in Editor Picked Articles and posted on Podcast]
Aoyagi T, Higa JK, Aoyagi H, Yorichika N, Shimada BK, Matsui T*. Cardiac mTOR rescues the detrimental effects of diet-induced obesity in the heart after ischemia-reperfusion. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2015;308(12):H1530-1539.
Aoyagi T, Kusakari Y, Xiao C-Y, Inouye BT, Takahashi M, Scherrer-Crosbie M, Rosenzweig A, Hara K, Matsui T*. Cardiac mTOR protects the heart against ischemia-reperfusion injury. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2012;303(1):H75-85.
(*Corresponding author)
