President

ProfessorYukio Ando

Department of Neurology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kumamoto University, Japan

It is my great honor to be hosting the forthcoming 16th International Symposium on Amyloidosis between Monday 26th and Thursday 29th March, 2018 at KKR Kumamoto Hotel in Kumamoto, Japan.

Amyloidosis consists of a large group of disorders caused by accumulation of proteins in the form of abnormal and insoluble fibers, known as amyloid fibrils, within the extracellular space in the tissues of the organs including peripheral nerves, heart, kidneys, eyes, brain, and other tissues. The number of known human amyloid proteins has steadily increased to 36 at present.

Since the 1st International Symposium on Amyloidosis took place in Holland in 1967, it has been the place for discussion of research progresses and latest achievements for the investigators in the world for about 50 years. It has also been acclaimed in the various fields of clinical and basic medicine.

Although amyloidosis was an intractable disease, recently novel disease modifying therapies and clinical trials, such as protein stabilizer, gene silencing, antibody, and molecularly targeted drugs have been applied to several types of amyloidosis, because of such research progress.

Furthermore, the studies on amyloidosis have been contributing to the researches of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, amyotropic lateral sclerosis.

Number of participants to this symposium has increased each time over the years and this time it will be held in Japan.

The main theme for the symposium is “Amyloid Research, Winter to Blooming Spring”. Welcome to Kumamoto, spring 2018.