Tissera, Inc. Reports Encouraging Interim Results Of Its Ongoing Large Animal Experiments Of Pancreatic Xenotransplantation
In these experiments, conducted by Tissera sponsored research team at the Weizmann Institute of Science, embryonic pig pancreatic tissues, harvested within an optimal gestational time window previously identified by the company's research team, were transplanted into non human primates.
The transplanted tissues were followed for various periods and under various immunosuppressive regimens for survival, structural and functional growth and proliferation within the recipient primates.
A follow-up of seven weeks after transplantation showed marked engraftment and tissue growth, with considerable proliferation activity of the transplanted cells. The pig embryonic pancreatic implants were shown to be largely vascularized by the host primate blood vessels, a fact likely to provide a significant benefit for the successful acceptance and thriving of the graft and for the company's future goal of using minimal immune suppression in transplanted patients. Furthermore, the ability to produce insulin was also demonstrated by specific staining for intra-cellular insulin presence.
Subsequent large animal model experiments of pig pancreatic xenotransplantation are currently conducted by Tissera sponsored research team. Those and future additional experiments will be needed to further strengthen and consolidate the encouraging results which have been obtained so far. It is the company's hope and belief that this extensive research effort in the non human primate model will help demonstrate the scientific and technical feasibility of its unique therapeutic approach, thus paving the way for the conduction of human clinical studies for the treatment of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.
Diabetes mellitus is a severe and debilitating chronic disease that develops in nearly 5 percent of the world's population. People with this disease have a shortage of insulin or a reduced ability to use insulin, the hormone regulating blood glucose levels, which is normally produced by the pancreas. In the United States alone, an estimated 18 million people have diabetes, and each year about 1 million Americans are diagnosed with the disease. It is the sixth leading cause of death in the US and is responsible for over 200,000 deaths a year. Insulin-dependent (type I) diabetes accounts for around 10% of diabetics. For those patients, suffering from an inability of their pancreas to produce insulin, the only practical treatment possible is regular insulin replacement by multiple daily injections. Transplantation of a pancreas or pancreatic tissue would be beneficial to millions of such patients in that it would restore their normal ability to produce self insulin. Transplantation of human pancreas or pancreatic islets is a practiced and time-honored such therapeutic approach, but is extremely limited by the severe shortage of human donor organs. Tissera's R&D efforts in this domain are directed towards the development of a universally available and reliable source of animal fetal donor pancreatic precursor tissue, suitable for transplantation and eventual normal structural and functional growth in human diabetics.
About Tissera
Tissera is a biotechnology company dedicated to the development of novel tissue precursor regeneration technologies for treating gene deficiencies and diseases in which organ transplantation is necessary, while minimizing the dosage of immunosuppressive drugs. Tissera obtained the license for the worldwide exclusive rights to the technology developed by Professor Yair Reisner and his team at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. In this research, scientists successfully implanted in mice embryonic human and porcine organ precursor tissues, which grew into functional organs. This research was published in Nature Medicine and attracted worldwide scientific and media attention.
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Contacts
Tissera Inc. Dr. Uri Elmaleh, +972-9-9561151 uri@tissera.com