AUSTIN, Texas — Pure Transplant Solutions, LLC (PTS), a collaboration driven biotechnology company focused on the development of human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-based diagnostics and therapeutics within the field of transplantation, is proud to announce that it has entered into a collaboration agreement with King’s College London, a leading university providing world-class teaching and cutting-edge research, to support the Phase IIa GAMECHANgER-1 clinical trial.
The trial aims to determine whether adoptive transfer of regulatory T cells (Tregs) into HLA sensitised patients can suppress memory T and B cell responses against specific HLA antigens in order to extend the longevity of donor organs.
The collaborative research is being led by Dr. Anthony Dorling, Professor of Transplant Inflammation and Repair, and Honorary Consultant Nephrologist at the Centre for Nephrology, Urology, and Transplantation, and Dr. Rico Buchli, VP of Products and Services at PTS. The collaboration intends to investigate whether in vitro anti-HLA T & B cell responses in sensitized patients can be inhibited by an adoptive transfer of T regulatory cells. Under the Agreement, PTS will provide its proprietary soluble HLA (sHLA) molecules which will be used to trigger functional responses of patient cells in Fluorospot assays.
Furthermore, PTS will provide biotinylated sHLA for memory b-cell detection and characterization. Researchers hope that the results of the study will lead to a better understanding of immune tolerance, extend the duration of suppression of HLA-specific responses by Tregs and ultimately produce state-of-the-art immune therapeutics to control rejection.
“We feel that PTS has the fundamental ingredients needed to provide new sets of tools to those who care for transplant patients,” Dr. Buchli stated. “Our proteins can solve a number of important challenges in DSA and B cell monitoring. With this collaboration, we are able to go beyond monitoring and help pave the way in generating immune therapeutics of the future.”
“The group of highly sensitized dialysis patients that we’ll be recruiting to GAMECHANgER-1 have difficulties getting a suitable kidney transplant and once transplanted suffer higher rates of rejection and complications associated with our current treatments for rejection,” said Dr. Dorling. “This trial will determine whether patients’ own regulatory T cells can be used to suppress immune memory responses against specific human leukocyte antigens (HLA), and if successful will pave the way for larger scale trials to determine if these regulatory cells can be used as therapy to prevent or minimise these problems in future. The HLA proteins provided by Pure Transplant Solutions are an essential tool used to tailor our immunemonitoring for individual patients, so I’m delighted to be partnering with the company to ensure a stable, long-term supply of these reagents. This trial offers a glimpse of how personalised medicine might help transform outcomes for this disadvantaged group of patients.”
About Pure Transplant Solutions, LLC
Pure Transplant Solutions, LLC was founded in 1999 in order to leverage the leading research in HLA protein of parent company, Pure Protein, LLC, into solutions to address a growing list of needs in organ transplantation. Visit: http://www.puretransplant.com/
About Pure Protein, LLC
Pure Protein, LLC is a biotechnology company funded and managed by Emergent Technologies, Inc. that is focused on the development and commercialization of proprietary technologies related to the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) system, formed and exclusively licensed from the University of Oklahoma. Pure Protein, in conjunction with its affiliates and subsidiaries, aims to bring novel therapies and diagnostic tools to patients across a wide range of application areas spanning from therapeutic development in the fields of oncology, autoimmunity, and infectious disease, to antibody mediated rejection in transplantation.
Through its new ecommerce website – http://www.hlaprotein.com/ – Pure Protein now offers academic and commercial researchers the ability to purchase individual HLA reagents to detect, profile, and monitor allele-specific immune responses, as well as HLA peptide epitope binding services to aide in improving the design of vaccination and therapeutic targeting strategies.
About King’s College London
King’s College London (King’s) is one of the top 10 UK universities in the world (QS World University Rankings, 2018/19) and among the oldest in England. King’s has more than 31,000 students (including more than 12,800 postgraduates) from some 150 countries worldwide, and some 8,500 staff. King’s has an outstanding reputation for world-class teaching and cutting-edge research. In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF), eighty-four per cent of research at King’s was deemed ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’ (3* and 4*).
Since its foundation, King’s students and staff have dedicated themselves in the service of society. King’s will continue to focus on world-leading education, research and service, and will have an increasingly proactive role to play in a more interconnected, complex world. Visit our website to find out more about Vision 2029, King’s strategic vision for the next 12 years to 2029, which will be the 200th anniversary of the founding of the university.
World-changing ideas. Life-changing impact: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/spotlight
Related link: https://www.puretransplant.com/
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