Dealing with immune rejection of transplanted stem cells
StepAhead Comment:
Much of the current hope of using stem cells for medical purposes involves the use of cell banks created from embryonic stem cells or cell lines. Some of these are already approved for use in medical procedures. Despite the obvious danger of rejection when transplanting allogenic cells into a human the question of immunogenicity has been down played. It is gratifying that the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine has decide to take on this issue head on and address not only the question of whether allogenic stem cells are prone to rejection but what to do about it if they are.
CIRM allocates $25 million to overcome immune rejection of stem cell transplantation therapies
Press Release: California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, June 22, 2010
San Diego, Calif., June 22, 2010 – The Governing Board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the state stem cell agency created by proposition 71, today approved $25 million to fund 19 projects intended to overcome immune rejection of transplanted stem cells.
Transplanting cells derived from stem cells to replace lost or damaged tissue is one of the great promises of stem cell research. However, the possibility exists that those cells could be rejected by the immune system much like a transplanted organ. The projects funded by these awards will develop strategies for overcoming rejection, eliminating potential barriers to moving stem cell therapies to the clinic. Breakthroughs developed in these research projects could also benefit the entire transplantation field.
“In writing proposition 71, we anticipated the need to overcome the immune response in order to fulfill one of the ultimate promises of regenerative medicine, replacing or repairing tissues with stem cells,” said Robert Klein, chair of the CIRM Governing Board. “With these awards, CIRM-funded scientists will be advancing the critical medical technologies that are essential to prevent the immune system from rejecting life-saving transplants. If successful, these experiments will place California researchers in a world leadership position on solutions to prevent immune system rejection of cellular therapies. These projects give great hope to patients and families of people with chronic disease, who look to stem cell research as their best hope for a cure.“
CIRM President Alan Trounson who pioneered the integration of immunology and stem cells at Monash University in Victoria, Australia, has actively encouraged a focus for
research on the development of strategies that could complement the stem cell transplantation therapies. “With these innovative immune transplantation focused awards we will be making major strides toward eliminating the potential barrier of rejection and dangerous immune suppression that slows the application of stem cell therapies for the benefit of the people of California and the world,” he said.
Two of the awards include a collaboration with partners at Monash University whose portion of the award will be funded by the Australian state of Victoria. The Victorian government has committed $1.2 million toward funding these projects.
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