Newswise — RTI International has received a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop biomarkers that can be used to predict the onset of drug-induced liver injury and that will help scientists understand the liver's adverse response to drugs.
The four-year grant, worth $1.8 million, is part of the NIH Roadmap Initiative designed to encourage an interdisciplinary approach to biomedical research that will translate research into clinically relevant discoveries.
"Drug-induced liver injury is a major cause of drug failure during clinical trials or after a drug is on the market," said Susan Sumner, Ph.D., RTI's principal investigator. "Clinicians need more sensitive biomarkers that can help them define potential patient sensitivity, and drug makers need more sensitive biomarkers to help them select the best drug candidates during the drug development process."
Using metabolomics, scientists at RTI will seek to determine mechanisms associated with liver injury and identify a set of metabolites that can be used to screen for drug-induced liver injuries in pre-clinical and clinical studies.
Metabolomics is a technology in development at RTI that analyzes the sum of processes by which a particular substance is handled in the living body. Looking at substances in this manner provides researchers a more comprehensive assessment of how and why people differ in sensitivity and response to various drugs.
"Dr. Sumner's metabolomic project should provide important new evidence on how this technology can be used to identify key biomarkers," said Richard Okita, Ph.D., NIH program director for the study. "The goal of this initiative is to improve the predictive process of identifying toxicities before compounds are selected for clinical testing."
RTI scientists plan to use the results of this study to later work with patient samples in an effort to prevent liver toxicity side-effects and enhance early intervention.
Duke University, Massachusetts General Hospital and Michigan State University also were awarded grants in toxicology research as part of the NIH Roadmap Initiative.
This grant is funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, part of NIH, under contract 1 R21 GM075903-01.
About RTI InternationalRTI International is an independent nonprofit research organization dedicated to conducting research and development that improves the human condition. With a staff of more than 2,500 people, RTI offers innovative research and technical solutions to governments and businesses worldwide in the areas of health and pharmaceuticals, advanced technology, surveys and statistics, education and training, economic and social development, and the environment. For more information, please visit us at: http://www.rti.org.
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