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Tissera reports significant milestone achievement in its large animal diabetic model studies. |
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10 Aug 2007 |
Tissera, Inc. reports the achievement of a significant milestone in its ongoing large animal diabetic model experiments of pancreatic xenotransplantation
| August 8, 2007 | Tissera, Inc. reports the achievement of a significant milestone in its ongoing large animaldiabetic model experiments of pancreatic xenotransplantation, designed for the future treatment of insulin-dependent (type I) diabetes mellitus.
Based on the previously reported positive results obtained in pancreatic transplantation experiments in normal non human primates, Tissera's sponsored research team at the Weizmann Institute of Science (http://www.weizmann.ac.il/) has moved forward to investigate in diabetic non human primates the functional and therapeutic value of the company's approach. In these studies, non human primates are treated by an agent called streptozotocin which induces them to become diabetic and consequently dependent upon administration of exogenous insulin for the maintenance of reasonable blood sugar levels. After allowing a few weeks for stabilization, appropriately timed pig embryonic pancreatic tissue is transplanted into the diabetic primate, which is thereafter intensively and carefully followed.
In a previous press release, the company reported preliminary results showing a progressive post transplantation reduction of the insulin amounts required for maintenance of blood sugar levels, together with the demonstration of the presence of slight blood insulin levels, suggestive of endogenous insulin production. It was then mentioned that the pig origin of this insulin remained to be determined in order to unequivocally attribute its presence to production by the growing pancreatic graft.
In further experiments, this progressive post transplantation reduction of the insulin amounts required for maintenance of near normal blood sugar levels was consistently observed. By the fourth month after transplantation, the insulin dose needed to maintain near-normal blood sugar levels decreased by more than 90% in comparison with the insulin dose needed before transplantation, meaning that endogenous insulin production was predominantly responsible for blood sugar control.
The crucial question of the graft origin of this endogenous insulin was addressed by measurement of blood C-peptide, which is a peptide which splits from insulin precursor in the process of insulin formation and thus its blood levels closely reflect pancreatic insulin secretion. C-peptide levels were measured both at baseline and in response to sugar load administration which brings about a rise in blood C-peptide. The measured C-peptide was shown to be predominantly of pig origin. Those results provide a definitive proof for the pancreatic pig transplant origin of insulin presence in the diabetic primate's blood and constitute a very significant milestone achievement in the company's efforts to demonstrate the therapeutic value of its technology in the treatment of insulin dependent
(type I) diabetes mellitus.
About 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.
For more information please visit Tissera website:
www.tissera.com
SOURCE: TISSERA, INC. |
