Beyond pigmentation: signs of liver protection during afamelanotide treatment in Swiss patients with erythropoietic protoporphyria, an observational study.

and animal studies demonstrated α-MSH effects other than skin tanning, including an improved synthesis of red blood cell precursors in the bone-marrow and protection of the liver from experimentally induced damage. Until now, it is unknown whether afamelanotide has similar effects in the human organism.To study this question, we analyzed retrospectively the safety laboratory data of 38 Swiss patients, who received at least one dose of afamelanotide from 2016 to 2019. We found that both, the average protoporphyrin concentrations and aspartate aminotransferase, a test for liver function, improved during afamelanotide treatment as compared to before.We concluded that afamelanotide applied to EPP patients to protect them from light-induced skin burns also may reduce their risk of liver injury.