THURSDAY, May 3 (HealthDay News) -- Triptolide, a compound derived from a Chinese herb called Lei Gong Teng, may one day help block the formation of kidney-destroying cysts in patients with polycystic kidney disease, according to the results of a study in mice presented this week at Experimental Biology 2007 in Washington, D.C.
Craig M. Crews, Ph.D., of Yale University in New Haven, Conn., and colleagues tested a less-toxic version of triptolide in mice bred to have polycystic kidney disease. Higher, more-toxic concentrations of triptolide are now in Phase I trials for cancer. The compound has also been used to treat inflammation and autoimmune diseases.
The new compound reduced cyst formation in mice when compared with controls not given triptolide. The researchers now plan to study the compound in different mouse models and eventually proceed to clinical trials in humans.
"If we were able to slow the rate of cyst formation by even 10 percent a year, compounded annually, patients would not die from this disease. A relatively small effect would have an enormous clinical benefit," said Crews, in a statement.
Abstract
