Educational Session 1

[ES1-02] Rare Sugar D-Allose as a Potential Novel Agent for Patients with Renal Cell Carcinoma

*Rikiya Taoka¹ (1. Kagawa University)

[Biography]
Rikiya Taoka is a Hospital Associate Professor of Urology at Kagawa University in Japan. He completed his medical studies at Kagawa University and obtained his medical license in 2001. In 2005, he earned his Ph.D. from the Graduate School of Medicine at Kagawa University by studying the inflammatory mechanism of benign prostatic hyperplasia. From 2013 to 2015, he worked as a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, focusing on urologic cancer. His research has resulted in numerous publications and accolades, including the JUA Annual Meeting Award in 2004 and the West JUA Annual Meeting Award in 2015 and 2020.

Rare sugars are monosaccharides found only in small amounts in nature and there are more than 50 types of rare sugars. Kagawa University is the only research institute in the world that can produce all rare sugars based on the production strategy for rare sugars developed. D-Allose, the C3 epimer of D-glucose, is one of the rare sugars. Recently, D-allose has attracted attention due to its various physiological functions, which differ from those of D-glucose.
Renal cell carcinoma is identified by an abundance of glycogen in the cytoplasm, due to the aberrant influx and storage of glucose. Thus, this project was initiated based on the hypothesis that the rare sugar D-allose accumulates in renal cell carcinoma cells and leads to its anti-tumor effects.
To date, this project has revealed that D-allose accumulates in renal cell carcinoma cells and exerts anti-tumor effects. In a Xenograft mouse model, intraperitoneal or oral administration of D-allose was transported to tumor tissues, demonstrating the effect of suppressing tumor growth. In addition, the anti-tumor mechanism based on sugar metabolism suppression is also being elucidated. Furthermore, in a human study, the pharmacokinetics of orally administered D-allose was clarified, and its high safety was also demonstrated through repeated-dose studies. At present, we are proceeding with patenting these research results as intellectual property. In addition, this project is working with partner companies to produce drugs that can be certified under Good Manufacturing Practices.
This presentation will highlight the potential of the rare sugar D-allose as a novel drug for patients with renal cell carcinoma, and review the ongoing drug development process.