title: Developments for a growing Japanese patient population: facilitating new technologies for future health care.
abstract: Lung cancer, COPD and cardiovascular diseases are highlighted as some of the most common disease that cause mortality, and for that reason are the most active areas for drug development. This perspective paper overviews the urgent need to develop a health care system for a rapidly growing patient population in Japan, including forthcoming demands on clinical care, expecting outcomes, and economics. There is an increasing requirement to build on the strengths of the current health care system, thereby delivering urgent solutions for the future. There is also a declaration from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW), to develop new biomarker diagnostics, which is intended for patient stratification, aiding in diagnostic phenotype selection for responders to drug treatment of Japanese patients. This perspective was written by the panel in order to introduce novel technologies and diagnostic capabilities with successful implementation. The next generation of personalized drugs for targeted and stratified patient treatment will soon be available in major disease areas such as, lifestyle-related cancers, especially lung cancers with the highest mortality including a predisposing disorder chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cardiovascular disease, and other diseases. Mass spectrometric technologies can provide the "phenotypic fingerprint" required for the concept of Personalized Medicine. Mass spectrometry-driven target biomarker diagnoses in combination with high resolution computed tomography can provide a critical pathway initiative facilitated by a fully integrated e-Health infrastructure system. We strongly recommend integrating validated biomarkers based on clinical proteomics, medical imaging with clinical care supported by e-Health model to support personalized treatment paradigms to reduce mortality and healthcare costs of chronic and co-morbid diseases in the elderly population of Japan.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Surgery, Tokyo Medical University, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Harubumi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kato
authors.forename: Toshihide
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nishimura
authors.forename: Norihiko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ikeda
authors.forename: Tesshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: Tadashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kondo
authors.forename: Nagahiro
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Saijo
authors.forename: Kazuto
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nishio
authors.forename: Junichiro
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fujimoto
authors.forename: Masaharu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nomura
authors.forename: Yoshiya
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Oda
authors.forename: Bertil
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lindmark
authors.forename: Jiro
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Maniwa
authors.forename: Hitoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hibino
authors.forename: Michiaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Unno
authors.forename: Toshinori
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: Yoshiki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sawa
authors.forename: Hiromasa
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tojo
authors.forename: Shin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Egawa
authors.forename: Goutham
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Edula
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lopez
authors.forename: Murray
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wigmore
authors.forename: Naohiko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Inase
authors.forename: Yasuyuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yoshizawa
authors.forename: Fumio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Nomura
authors.forename: György
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Marko-Varga
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000639:trends*; D055808:Drug Discovery; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality; D011158:Population Growth; D040901:Proteomics; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers