(JP) Transplant drug with no side effects found

[Guest guest]

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20020825wo71.htm

 

Transplant drug with no side effects found

 

25 Aug 2002

Yomiuri Shimbun

 

A team of researchers from Tsukuba University and

Ajinomoto Co.'s pharmaceutical research institute has

discovered a new immunosuppressive agent that does not

produce any side effects, the group said.

 

Team leader Kenji Yuzawa, a lecturer specializing in

organ transplant studies at the university, said he

would announce the group's discovery at an ongoing

meeting in the United States of the International

Society of Transplantation.

 

Immunosuppressive agents are essential for organ

transplants as they suppress rejection symptoms caused

by the body's immune system, which often sees the

transplanted organ as a foreign object.

 

But agents currently available cause harmful side

effects to the kidney and other body parts.

 

The new agent discovered by Yuzawa, a researcher of

clinical medicines, and his colleagues from Ajinomoto

is called APC0576.

 

Yuzawa selected the agent from about 70,000 chemical

substances that Ajinomoto synthesized and stored to be

used to develop medicines.

 

The researchers transplanted Rhesus macaque kidneys

into two of the monkeys, and gave them 50 milligrams

of the agent for each kilogram of body weight twice a

day for 30 days.

 

During the period, the monkeys' kidneys functioned

normally and no side effects were observed, the

researchers said.

 

" By examining the experiment's results using the

monkeys, which are close to humans, we expect the

agent will also be effective for humans, " Yuzawa said.

 

 

Nagoya University Prof. Shinichi Oshima, who is a

director of the Japan Society for Transplantation,

said, " Further study is necessary because the number

of experiments is still small. "

 

" However, it is a positive sign that the researchers

were able to suppress rejection symptoms, the largest

hurdle in organ transplants, without any side effects.

I expect future developments, " he said.

 

Copyright 2002 The Yomiuri Shimbun

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finance - Get real-time stock quotes

http://finance.