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Biotech / Medical : Biotransplant(BTRN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: poodle who wrote (90)	9/23/1998 12:22:00 AM
From: scaram(o)uche	Respond to of 1475

Val: This abstract (below) addresses two of your concerns, showing that Novartis and the BTRN collaborators at Imutran are engineering the donor population and addressing some of your eons and billions. A devil's advocate position is always helpful. But, in the face of medical need, your stance will cost you. You're new to this game, and the arrogance is a reflection of inexperience. You did well on the short side of biotech for a brief period. Congrats. It's now time to develop a bit of a realistic perspective...... cutting edge research has value. 1. There are billions spent every year on dialysis, and then the patients die for lack of a transplant. XenoMune and the nearly inbred pigs have value. 2. AlloMune does not pivot on hyperacute rejection. 3. You can't tell me that 507 won't work for GvH. 4. You can't tell me that 507 won't work for autoimmunity. Transplantation 1998 Jun 27;65(12):1584-1590 Life-supporting pig-to-primate renal xenotransplantation using genetically modified donors. Zaidi A, Schmoeckel M, Bhatti F, Waterworth P, Tolan M, Cozzi E, Chavez G, Langford G, Thiru S, Wallwork J, White D, Friend P Imutran Ltd (A Novartis Pharma AG Company); and Papworth Hospital, Cambridge, United Kingdom. BACKGROUND: In order to circumvent the complement-mediated hyperacute rejection of discordant xenografts, a colony of pigs transgenic for the human regulator of complement activity, human decay-accelerating factor (hDAF), has been produced. METHODS: Seven kidneys from hDAF transgenic pigs and six kidneys from nontransgenic control pigs were transplanted into cynomolgus monkeys; both native kidneys were removed during the same operation. The recipient animals were immunosuppressed with cyclosporine, steroids, and cyclophosphamide. RESULTS: In the transgenic group, the median survival time was 13 days (range, 6-35 days); the median survival time in the control group was 6.5 days (range, 0.3-30 days). There were no cases of hyperacute rejection in the transgenic group, and the two longest-surviving kidneys in this group showed no evidence of rejection on histological examination. In contrast, all control kidneys underwent antibody-mediated rejection, one demonstrating hyperacute rejection and the others acute vascular rejection. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that (i) a kidney from an hDAF transgenic pig can support the life of a primate for up to 35 days (and also shows the basic physiological compatibility between the pig and nonhuman primate); (ii) nontransgenic kidneys are not routinely hyperacutely rejected; and (iii) the presence of hDAF on the kidney confers some protection against acute vascular rejection. Improved immunosuppression and immunological monitoring may enable extended survival.