Takeshi Kimura
Vice President- Ajinomoto Co.,Inc, Japan
Title: Disease Risk Screening using Plasma Free Amino Acids: Initial Commercialization and Future Potential
Biography
Biography: Takeshi Kimura
Abstract
The potential for using plasma amino acids as a metabolomic subset to identify disease risk has been shown and since 2011, a commercial service for several types of cancers (gastric, lung, colorectal, breast, cervical, and prostate cancer) risk screening utilizing plasma free amino acid (PFAA) concentrations, called AminoIndex®, has been available in Japan. Collaborating with two of the largest clinical laboratory testing companies in Japan, AminoIndex® is now available in more than 1,000 hospitals in Japan. In 2015, risk screening for pancreatic cancer, one of the most challenging malignancies to treat, was added. The accumulation of several years of data has allowed the generation of predictive biomarkers and, in 2017, we launched a new biomarker using PFAAs to evaluate the future risk of developing diabetes within four years. We also found sub-populations with decreases in essential and semi-essential amino acids in plasma which could be the result from insufficient protein intake and are following clinical outcomes for this sub-population. Since protein malnutrition is common across varying populations, including the elderly, and could cause increased risk of sarcopenia, heart failure, and impaired immune response, PFAA profiles could be possible biomarkers to perform early nutritional interventions. The possibilities to utilize PFAAs as biomarkers are expanding, and cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer’s disease might be the next possible targets. It is important to distinguish the presymptomatic disease from the truly healthy person for early interventions to reduce medical costs. Utilizing PFAAs as biomarkers for the presymptomatic disease conditions could be the promising way for achieving “precision nutrition” in the future.