Fundraising for a project to develop a "liquid liver" to replace liver transplantation has started through the crowdfunding service "READYFOR".
This project is by Associate Professor Nobuhiko Kojima of Yokohama City University, and is entitled "Enjoying food for patients with phenylketonuria with liquid liver!"Phenylketonuria is a disease in which a part of the function of the liver is naturally lost. Phenylalanine, which is an essential amino acid, is not metabolized in the liver and accumulates in a high concentration in the body, resulting in developmental delay and neuropathy.Since phenylalanine is contained in protein, patients with phenylketonuria need to strongly limit their intake of protein-containing foods such as meat and fish.
Liver transplants can treat phenylketonuria, but given the high risks associated with transplants, liver transplants are not actually the choice.Therefore, Associate Professor Kojima proposed a treatment to make a "liquid liver", that is, "red blood cells containing liver metabolic enzymes and functioning like the liver" and transplanting (transfusing) them.Liquid liver is a low-risk treatment that can metabolize phenylalanine, which cannot be metabolized by the liver, in the blood, and unlike the transplantation of the liver itself, it can be done only by injection.
If the target amount of funding is achieved by crowdfunding, research for clinical application and commercialization will start at Shonan Health Innovation Park (Shonan Eye Park).As the environment surrounding the university changes day by day, expanding opportunities to obtain funds using crowdfunding not only leads to revitalization of education and research, but also shares research content and results widely with the general public. It also leads to doing.
