Pluristem Pre-Clinical Results: Placenta Expanded Cell Therapy Product Increases Umbilical Cord Blood Engraftment up to 500% in Bone Marrow Transplants
HAIFA, Israel--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Pluristem Life Systems, Inc. (OTCBB: PLRS), a cell therapy company dedicated to the commercialization of stem cell products, announces promising final results of an animal model study which could benefit 100,000 blood cancer patients annually. PLX-I, the Company's innovative adjuvant cell therapy product is based on Placenta Expanded Mesenchymal cells. It intended to resolve the global shortfall of matched tissue for blood cancer patients requiring bone marrow transplantation by improving the engraftment of Umbilical Cord Blood (UCB). The Pre-Clinical results document that adding Pluristem’s PLX-I to UCB stem cells during the Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) human cell engraftment in NOD SCID mice showed up to a 500% increased engraftment after irradiation and Chemotropic treatment.
BMT traditionally treats patients whose bone marrow has been damaged by chemotherapy, or certain genetic diseases that lead to anemia, leukemia, lymphomas, autoimmune disease and other blood-related disorders. Its effectiveness is severely limited because of the lack of a matching donor or shortage of UCB stem cells engrafted during the procedure. If additional animal studies and human clinical trials prove equally successful as this first Pre-Clinical, Pluristem’s PLX-I product with 500% increased engraftment could lead to more Bone Marrow Transplants (BMT) for these types of blood cancers.
The animal studies were performed on immune-deficient NOD SCID mice following systemic myeloablation of their bone marrow to simulate the BMT clinical protocol. This in-vivo model is based on the known ability of human Hematopoietic Stem Cells (HSC) to engraft in mouse bone marrow and to simulate the recovery of the human's Hematological system. 50,000-100,000 human UCB derived CD34+ cells (hUCB CD34+) were injected into the tail vein of NOD-SCID mice along with 0.5*106 PLX I cells. After periods of 28-32 days, mice were sacrificed and the marrow was analyzed. Human cell engraftment was performed in both sub lethally irradiated (350 Rad) and chemotherapy administrated (50 mg/kg Busulfan) mice. FACS analysis of human CD45 positive cells in mice bone marrow demonstrated an increscent of cell engraftment in part of the experimental animals up to 5 folds compared to mice transplanted with CD34+ cells only.
Mr. Zami Aberman, CEO, stated, “Co-transplantation of PLX-I cell types may be a promising manipulation improving cord blood performance during the bone marrow transplants in adults blood disorder. The pre-clinical results suggest blood disorder treatment is being improved by using MSC derived from placenta and expanded in Pluristem's 3D bioreactor in combination with UCB derived HSC. We strongly believe that PLX-I can change the clinical process now being used to treat blood cancer and could eventually save millions of lives."
About Pluristem
Pluristem Life Systems, Inc. is a life sciences driven company that is developing and commercializing stem cell expansion technology products for the treatment of severe blood disorders. The Company is discovering and developing cell-based therapeutics that utilizes adult stem cells expanded in a proprietary bioreactor mimicking different naturally occurring physiological environments. Pluristem expects its first products to be cell grafts that will provide an efficient and superior alternative to the standard procedure of bone marrow transplantation. Its first adult stem cell product targets a critical global shortfall of matched tissue for bone marrow transplantation since bone marrow transplantation is often the only cure for patients suffering from leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma and many other hematological diseases. The Company has made a strategic decision to work only with adult stem cells since the practical use of embryonic stem cells is severely restricted by various religious, ethical and legal considerations.
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Contacts
Emerson Gerard Associates, Inc.
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Jerry Jennings, 561-881-7318
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