Chemokine Therapeutics publishes demonstration of enhanced survival, expansion, and engraftment of human cord blood stem cells

09-Sep-2005

Chemokine Therapeutics Corp. announced that it has discovered yet another therapeutic application for its chemokine analog, CTCE-0214. The discovery demonstrated that the Company's second lead product CTCE-0214 significantly multiplied the number of stem cells and related progenitor cell subsets from human cord blood through a process called ex-vivo expansion. The CTCE-0214 treated cells demonstrated significantly improved survival as well as markedly enhanced engraftment characteristics in an experimental model of stem cell transplantation.

The capacity of cord blood to treat cancer and a wide range of degenerative diseases is directly related to the quantity and quality of stem cells in cord blood. CTCE-0214 in a dose dependent manner significantly increased the expansion of all cell subsets studied, including important cell subtypes called CFU-GEMM and SCID-repopulating cells which have been identified as important stem cells for clinical use.

Improved methods to increase the number of the most primitive stem cells are expected to expand the potential therapeutic uses of cord blood in regenerative medicine. About 5,000 patients, mostly children with cancer and other non-malignant diseases have had cord stem cell transplants to restore the blood and immune system following high dose chemotherapy. Recent scientific breakthroughs suggest the immature stem cells from cord blood have the capacity to regenerate specialized cells for neural and cardiac applications. Cord blood is routinely harvested after delivery of full-term births and is stored frozen for future use by cord banks around the world. It is estimated that over 100,000 samples of cord blood are now stored in these banks.

In a series of experiments investigators discovered that CTCE-0214 synergized with three growth factors; thrombopoietin (TPO), stem cell factor (SCF) and flt-ligand (FL) to increase the survival and growth of stem and progenitor cells in culture. Adding CTCE-0214 at a low concentration for four days together with TPO, SCF and FL significantly enhanced the ex vivo expansion of CD34+ cells and all subsets of progenitor blood cells and demonstrated significant increases in engraftment in immunodeficient mice used to evaluate the engraftment potential of human stem cells. Investigators also made an important discovery that engraftment of stem cells was also significantly improved following a short exposure (4 hours) of higher doses of CTCE-0214.

Original publication: "Small Peptide Analog of SDF-1(alpha) Supports Survival of Cord Blood CD34+ Cells in Synergy with Other Cytokines, Enhances Their Ex Vivo Expansion and Engraftment in NOD/SCID Mice."; Stem Cells 2005.

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