Lots of people love their cats! They’re cute, they’re fluffy, and most of all they’re a part of the family. However, an average cat’s lifespan is only twelve to eighteen years, so the best cat owners can do is give them a comfortable and loving life.
Soon, this could change. The most deadly and common disease known to cats is kidney disease, which can affect and kill cats only over five years of age. 30% of cats develop it by the age of 10, and in most cases the disease is caught too late to treat, leading to organ failure. Japanese Scientist Miyazaki Toru, a graduate from UTokyo Faculty of Medicine, has been working hard since the 1990s to create a vaccine that could cure kidney disease and lengthen a cat’s lifespan up to fifteen and even thirty years!
Toru found his research passion in immunology, and thereafter began to research a protein in white blood cells he called AIM (apoptosis inhibitor of macrophage). AIM helps a cat’s kidneys by removing the dangerous toxins and blockages through helping an antibody called immunoglobulin (that helps naturally fend off illnesses) to disperse and eventually, destroy the kidney disease.
Fellow students of Hinsdale South have mixed opinions about vaccinating their cats: “I would give my cat the vaccine because I love my cat a lot and if it can really help prevent them from getting sick,” freshman Nuha Kassem said, “I would want the change to increase their quality of life as well as their lifespan.” Sophomore Taniya Lofton said, “No, because I don’t really trust vaccine testing, but if it does ever get to that point when my cat seems sick I would.”
In 2017, Toru founded a company called L’Aimia. He planned for the vaccine to be released in 2020 with the help of funding, but the COVID-19 pandemic postponed the project. After the pandemic was over, he sought out to refine the vaccine to its full potential, and it’s now set to release commercially in 2025. There have been no side effects reported other than the vaccine not working.
His true inspiration for creating the vaccine was his late friend and co-worker, who passed away due to an incurable illness. She was also a cat-lover, and one day Toru hopes that the vaccine can be used to help people too.
Sources Used in the Research Behind and Creation of the Above Article:
The Sankei Shimbun, The Day Cats Life to Be Thirty, Japan Forward, May 2, 2022, p.
Otake Tomoke, By improving kidney function, can “AIM” double cats’ lifespan? The University of Tokyo January 9, 2020, p.
- Li Prah, Japan’s AIM cat Injection, The JAC (The official student newspaper of Tarleton state university) February 2, 2024 p.
Ryoichi Sugisawa,1,* Emiri Hiramoto,1,* Shigeru Matsuoka,1,2 Satomi Iwai,3 Ryosuke Takai,1 Tomoko Yamazaki,1 Nobuko Mori,1,4 Yuki Okada,5 Naoki Takeda,6 Ken-ichi Yamamura,6
Toshiro Arai,4 Satoko Arai,1 and Toru Miyazakia, AVMA (American Veterinary Medical Association), Oct 12, 2016
Impact of feline AIM on the susceptibility of cats to renal disease
National Library of Medicine,
U.S Food & Drug Administration
