History and Aims

The European Society for the Study of Purine and Pyrimidine Metabolism in Man (ESSPPMM) was founded in 1987 in connection with the First European Symposium in Chateaux d’Oeux, Switzerland. The Society held subsequent meetings every two years in several European countries and Israel.

The First International Symposium on Purine Metabolism was held in 1973 in Israel, and subsequently every three years in Europe, the USA and Japan. When the meetings coincided, a combined Symposium was held (in Bournemouth, UK, 1991; Gmunden, Austria, 1997; Egmond aan Zee, Netherlands, 2003)

In 2003 the joint membership agreed to merge the activities of the two groups to produce biennial Symposia open to all members. The topics of the Symposia are determined by the participants who respond to the call for free communications, usually under broad headings such as:

PP03 (Egmond aan Zee)

Lectures:
Antimetabolites in the treatment of arthritis
From bench to the clinic (1&2)
Methodology

Purines in the Cardiovascular system
Chemotherapy in solid and haematological malignancies
Lesch-Nyhan syndrome

New inborn errors: role of mitochondria
Membrane targets
Antimetabolites: parasites and viruses

Enzymology: signal transduction
Genetic polymorphisms (1&2)

Posters:
Gout
Lesch-Nyhan syndrome
Inborn errors
Gene polymorphisms
Metabolism and enzymology
Purine metabolism in cardiovascular disease
Gene therapy
Chemotherapy of malignancies
Methodology

PP05 (Prague)

Lectures and Posters:
Purine and pyrimidine analogues
Thiopurines in therapy
Role of adenosine

Role of uric acid: gout
Enzymes (1&2)
Analytical techniques

Inborn errors
Role of mitochondria
Additional topics (including pyridines)