News
16 February 2011
Press release: Research should make stem cell transplants using umbilical cord blood successful for leukemia patients
LEIDEN 16 february –Top Institute Pharma (TI Pharma) is today launching a new research project that should make stem cell transplants more successful. A stem cell transplant is usually performed on adults with acute leukemia. “Umbilical cord blood is being used more frequently as a source, but this cord blood contains very few blood-forming stem cells”, according to lead researcher Jan Cornelissen of the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam. As a result, a relatively large number of patients will experience complications after the transplant, which can even be associated with unnecessary deaths. The researchers are going to develop a new culture method, to increase the number of stem cells in the laboratory.
During a stem cell transplant, a leukemia patient receives blood-forming stem cells from another person. These stem cells should go on to form new red and white blood cells and blood platelets. Jan Cornelissen: “As suitable adult stem cell donors are not always available, umbilical cord blood is being used more and more often as a source of blood-forming stem cells. However, these transplants are often too small and do not contain enough stem cells. As a result, the formation of new blood cells is an extremely slow process. Complications, such as infections, often occur during this process. This could also result in the treatment failing to take hold altogether.”
In this study – a collaboration between the Erasmus Medical Center Rotterdam, the University of Utrecht and the companies Glycostem Therapeutics and GE Healthcare – we will focus on a new culture method that can multiply the number of stem cells available for transplantation. This takes place in the laboratory. During the four-year study period, the cultured stem cells will be tested in unique model systems and fifteen patients will receive a transplant containing these stem cells cultured in the lab.
A second arm of the study is aimed at imaging the stem cells in the patient’s body, in order to visualize the efficacy of the treatment. Cornelissen: “Currently, we only know one to two months after the transplant whether or not the treatment with stem cells is working. It would be wonderful if we could quickly see whether the stem cells have actually settled in the bone marrow. Therefore, we will ‘label’ the stem cells with metal spheres, so that they can be seen on an MRI scan. The technique already exists, but we are going to be the first to apply it in this special way.”
The project is being financed by the ‘Joint Call’ of the three top institutes in the field of life sciences research, namely TI Pharma, the BioMedical Materials Program (BMM) and the Center for Translational Molecular Medicine (CTMM). Over 3 million Euros are available for the study.
BMM, CTMM and TI Pharma will bring together some 180 national and international partners from the public and private sectors, as well as five health funds. The three institutes together have a research budget of nearly 700 million Euros for a period of five years. Fifty percent of the total financing comes from industry and knowledge facilities and fifty percent comes from the Dutch government.
For more information:
Ingeborg van der Heijden tel. 071- 332 2036 / 06-4612 2482, email ingeborg.vanderheijden(at)tipharma.com Glycostem Therapeutics (GCT) is a Netherlands-based life science SME advancing the science of cellular immunotherapy by creating breakthroughs in the expansion and differentiation of hematopoietic stem cells towards specific immune cell types (i.e. NK cells). In addition to the Prograft consortium GCT has a R&D cooperation with the department of Hematology and the Hematological Laboratory of UMC St Raboud in Nijmegen for joint development of cellular immunotherapeutic products aiming at improving the treatment of leukemia, lymphomas and other forms of cancer. GCTs first NK cell therapy product is evaluated in a phase I clinical trial in elderly AML patients. For more information visit: www.glycostem.nl About GE Healthcare
GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our broad expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, drug discovery, biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies, performance improvement and performance solutions services help our customers to deliver better care to more people around the world at a lower cost. In addition, we partner with healthcare leaders, striving to leverage the global policy change necessary to implement a successful shift to sustainable healthcare systems.
Our “healthymagination” vision for the future invites the world to join us on our journey as we continuously develop innovations focused on reducing costs, increasing access and improving quality around the world. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employees are committed to serving healthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries. For more information about GE Healthcare, visit our website at www.gehealthcare.com.
Erasmus MC (University Medical Center Rotterdam) is among the top research institutes in the Netherlands. Research activities range from fundamental biomedical research, patient-related research and epidemiology to public health, healthcare policy and management. As the largest university medical center in the Netherlands, with 1,800 students of medicine, 1,500 staff members and more than 10,000 employees, Erasmus MC provides advanced medical care to 3 million people living in the south-western part of the Netherlands. For further information, visit: www.erasmusmc.nl.
The Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences (UIPS) was established in 1992 and is the research division of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Science Faculty, Utrecht University. Its mission: to carry out high-quality fundamental research in the pharmaceutical sciences. Specifically, to perform conceptual research focused on the discovery, development, and use of drugs. In addition, within UIPS, research scientists are trained in the field of the pharmaceutical sciences.
Top Institute Pharma (TI Pharma) is a public-private partnership in which scientific and business worlds work together on groundbreaking, multidisciplinary research aimed at improving the development of socially valuable medicines. Our research portfolio is based on the disease areas as specified in Priority Medicines, a report by the World Health Organization (WHO). These projects create knowledge that is important for better, faster and less-expensive development of valuable new medicines. For more information, please visit www.tipharma.com.
TI Pharma Key figures74 partners, 260 M€ allocated funding, 50 projects/consortia CTMM (Center for Translational Molecular Medicine) is a Netherlands-based public-private partnership dedicated to the development of technologies in molecular medicine that enable early diagnosis and personalized treatment for the main areas of disease causing mortality and diminished quality of life in the western world (oncology, cardiovascular, neurodegenerative and infectious/auto-immune disease). CTMM operates by inviting, assessing and funding multidisciplinary projects that involve active participation by Netherlands-based academia and industry. The first milestone will be realized in February 2011 with the anticipated launch of the CE-certified AMLprofiler for a personal diagnosis in patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). All CTMM projects are judged by an independent International Advisory Board and approved by a Supervisory Board based on their significant potential to translate research knowledge into clinical practice. CTMM’s funding by the Dutch government (50%), academia (25%) and industry (25%) amounts to a total research budget of 300 million euros for the period until the end of 2014. Additional funding is provided by supporting foundations on behalf of patients.
CTMM Key figures: 105 partners, 275 M€ allocated funding, 21 projects/consortia
BMM (the BioMedical Materials program) is a Netherlands based public-private partnership dedicated to enable breakthroughs in the development and application of innovative biomedical materials. With a total amount of M€ 90 available, BMM’s research agenda focuses on new therapies and applications that prevent chronic organ and tissue failure, and contribute to the improvement in patients’ quality of life. BMM is financed by the Dutch government (50%), academia (25%) and industry (25%).
BMM Key figures: 44 partners, 79 M€ allocated funding, 13 projects/consortia.
