Kyoto University · Medicine
Professor Fumiyoshi Yamashita's research lab focuses on environmental toxicology and drug metabolism, with a particular emphasis on the long-term health effects of environmental pollutants such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The lab investigates the mechanisms underlying fetal exposure to toxins, including the clinical and metabolic consequences of prenatal PCB exposure, as seen in the fetal PCB syndrome. Additionally, the lab contributes to pharmaceutical sciences by developing in silico models to predict ADME (absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion) properties and drug-drug interactions, especially those involving cytochrome P450 enzymes like CYP3A4. Their work bridges environmental health and drug development, aiming to reduce late-stage drug failure and understand developmental toxicity from environmental exposures.
Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.
Combinatorial chemistry and high-throughput screening have increased the possibility of finding new lead compounds at much shorter time periods than conventional medicinal chemistry. However, too much promising drug candidates often fail because of unsatisfactory ADME properties. In silico ADME studies are expected to reduce the risk of late-stage attrition of drug development and to optimize screening and testing by looking at only the promising compounds. To this end, many in silico approaches
Pregnant mothers with yusho in Fukuoka, Nagasaki and Kochi Prefectures delivered babies with a peculiar clinical manifestation which will be called fetal PCB syndrome (FPS). The birth rate incidences were 3.6% (Fukuoka Prefecture), 4% (Nagasaki Prefecture), 2.9% (Kochi Prefecture) and 3.9% (total). The manifestations consisted of dark brown pigmentation of the skin and the mucous membrane, gingival hyperplasia, exophthalmic edematous eye, dentition at birth, abnormal calcification of the skull a
Induction of cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4) expression is often implicated in clinically relevant drug-drug interactions (DDI), as metabolism catalyzed by this enzyme is the dominant route of elimination for many drugs. Although several DDI models have been proposed, none have comprehensively considered the effects of enzyme transcription/translation dynamics on induction-based DDI. Rifampicin is a well-known CYP3A4 inducer, and is commonly used as a positive control for evaluating the CYP3A4 indu
Fumio Yamashita, Masao Hayashi, Fetal PCB Syndrome: Clinical Features, Intrauterine Growth Retardation and Possible Alteration in Calcium Metabolism, Environmental Health Perspectives, Vol. 59 (Feb., 1985), pp. 41-45
Open papers in the app to read, cite, and organize with AI.
