title: Is There a Space-Based Technology Solution to Problems with Preclinical Drug Toxicity Testing?
abstract: Even the finest state-of-the art preclinical drug testing, usually in primary hepatocytes, remains an imperfect science. Drugs continue to be withdrawn from the market due to unforeseen toxicity, side effects, and drug interactions. The space program may be able to provide a lifeline. Best known for rockets, space shuttles, astronauts and engineering, the space program has also delivered some serious medical science. Optimized suspension culture in NASA's specialized suspension culture devices, known as rotating wall vessels, uniquely maintains Phase I and Phase II drug metabolizing pathways in hepatocytes for weeks in cell culture. Previously prohibitively expensive, new materials and 3D printing techniques have the potential to make the NASA rotating wall vessel available inexpensively on an industrial scale. Here we address the tradeoffs inherent in the rotating wall vessel, limitations of alternative approaches for drug metabolism studies, and the market to be addressed. Better pre-clinical drug testing has the potential to significantly reduce the morbidity and mortality of one of the most common problems in modern medicine: adverse events related to pharmaceuticals.
authors.affiliation: Medicine Service Line/Nephrology Section, Durham VA Medical Center, Building 15, Room 109, 508 Fulton Street, Durham, North Carolina, 27705, USA. hammondoutofoffice@yahoo.com.|Nephrology Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina, 27705, USA. hammondoutofoffice@yahoo.com.|Space Policy Institute, Elliott School of International Affairs, Washington, District of Columbia, 20052, USA. hammondoutofoffice@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Timothy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hammond
authors.affiliation: Medicine Service Line/Nephrology Section, Durham VA Medical Center, Building 15, Room 109, 508 Fulton Street, Durham, North Carolina, 27705, USA.
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Allen
authors.affiliation: Space Policy Institute, Elliott School of International Affairs, Washington, District of Columbia, 20052, USA.|Office of Research & Development, Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, District of Columbia, 20420, USA.|Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, 77030, USA.|Department of Immunology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, 77030, USA.|Department of Psychiatry, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, 77030, USA.
authors.forename: Holly
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Birdsall
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004353:Drug Evaluation, Preclinical / Q000379:methods*; D064420:Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions; D022781:Hepatocytes / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D066330:Printing, Three-Dimensional; D013026:Space Flight; D013678:Technology, Pharmaceutical / Q000379:methods*; D018675:Toxicity Tests / Q000379:methods*
keywords: drug metabolism; hepatocyte; space; suspension culture