The research group, whose core members are Associate Professor Megumi Oshima at Department of Nephrology and Rheumatology, Kanazawa University Hospital, Deputy Chief Clinical Laboratory Technologist Yusuke Nakade, Professor Yasunori Iwata at Department of Nephrology and Rheumatology and President Takashi Wada at Kanazawa University and KAGAMI INC. has confirmed the kinetics and safety of D-alanine (*1) formulation developed for clinical application in kidney disease.
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a disease in which kidney impairment, as indicated by decreased kidney function or proteinuria, persists for more than three months. The number of CKD patients in Japan is estimated to be about 13.3 million (1 in 8 adults). As CKD progresses to end-stage kidney disease requiring dialysis or kidney transplantation, and also poses the risk of cardiovascular disease and death, development of treatment to prevent CKD progression is required. The recent improvements of technology have made it possible to distinguish amino acids into their optical isomers, D-body and L-body, and to measure them. In previous studies, this research group has found that the concentration of D-alanine, among D-amino acids, in the blood increased in mice with kidney injury, and that administrating D-alanine to mice suppressed the deterioration of kidney function. In this study, we developed an oral formulation with a defined content of D-alanine, and examined for the first time in the world the metabolism of amino acids in the body and safety of repeated intake of D-alanine in healthy adults without impaired kidney function. As a result, we confirmed that D-alanine concentration in the blood increased and was maintained by repeated intake of D-alanine and that the safety of the D-alanine preparation, including its effect on kidney function.
These findings are expected to be applied clinically in the future, such as in the development of amino acid-targeted therapies for CKD.
The results were published in the Current Developments in Nutrition on May 22, 2024.
Figure: Changes in blood D-alanine concentration and kidney function with D-alanine intake
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*1:D-alanine
D-alanine is an optical isomer of L-alanine, one of the 20 amino acids that make up proteins, and is relatively abundant in metabolites of intestinal bacteria and fermented foods. Until now, most of the information on alanine has been based on L-alanine or alanine, which does not identify optical isomers. However, recent improvements in techniques have revealed the presence of D-alanine in the human body, and research is being conducted on the relationship between D-alanine and various biological functions.
Click here to see the press release【Japanese only】
Journal ：Current Developments in Nutrition
Researcher's Information： Megumi Oshima
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