Discovery of Early Metabolic Marker for Drug Toxicity in the Liver

SiDMAP, LLC has announced the discovery of an early metabolic marker for liver toxicity linked to the drug valproic acid, which is used in the treatment of epilepsy, bi-polar disease, and other disorders of the central nervous system.

The new biomarker was discovered jointly by SiDMAP scientists and their scientific collaborators at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Results from the SiDMAP-FDA collaboration will be presented at the Metabolomics Society Third Annual Conference in Manchester, United Kingdom, which begins on June 11, 2007.

At the Conference, Dr. Laura K. Schnackenberg of the FDA will co-present a poster entitled “Decreased Glycogen and RNA Ribose Synthesis and Turnover from [U-13C6]-D-Glucose is an Early Metabolic Marker for Valproic Acid Toxicity on the Liver in Mice.” The poster was prepared jointly by SiDMAP and the FDA.

“The results of this collaboration between SiDMAP and our scientific collaborators at the FDA indicate critical reductions in fluxes of glycogen turnover in liver cells, a central metabolic function of the liver itself, and more surprisingly a nearly 40% fall in nucleic acid ribose synthesis, which is critical for DNA message translation, repair and is one of the pillars of normal cell function. These results generated by direct flux measurements validate and reveal the quantitative response identified earlier by proteomic and genomic studies performed by our collaborators,” said Laszlo G. Boros, M.D., Chief Scientific Advisor.

“We are pleased to have had the opportunity to work with the FDA on metabolic markers of liver drug toxicity.” Dr. Boros will also be in attendance at the Metabolomics Society Conference, to assist with the presentation of results from the SiDMAP-FDA study.