Blog | HemaCare

A recent study found the lymph node cells, much like the thymus, play a part in immune self-tolerance.

Nearly 5% of the U.S. population is affected with a devastating autoimmune disease, and this percentage is ever growing. Current treatments address organ inflammation or approach the autoimmunity with immunosuppression, which has serious and widespread side effects. In order to develop more specific and effective therapies, there must be a fuller understanding of the mechanisms by which self-tolerance develops. It is known that autoimmune diseases occur due to the immune system’s loss of tolerance to self-antigens. How and why this loss of tolerance occurs is associated with many factors, including genetic (and epigenetic), cellular, environmental, and more.

HemaCare is pleased to announce the publication of our latest article ^[1] in the journal International Clinical Trials (ICT). The paper, entitled “The Landscape of Clinical Approval” describes how changes in the clinical drug approval process are impacting starting material suppliers, and what suppliers are doing to meet increased demands.

A new study shows that we may be able to boost the grafting ability in cells for people receiving a bone marrow transplant.

Allogenic stem cell transplantation is a treatment approach in people with diseases that are destructive to the bone marrow, such as multiple myeloma, leukemia, and Hodgkin´s lymphoma. The goal is to restore bone marrow after total-body chemotherapy and irradiation. The transplantation procedure involves transferring hematopoietic stem cells from compatible, healthy donors to a patient. An important complication of this procedure is rejection and destruction of the donated stem cells by the recipient’s immune system before engraftment can occur.

A major breakthrough in Immunotherapy drug coverage was announced last week. Medicare will now cover high-priced blood cancer cell therapies nationwide. The news, announced by officials at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), comes two years after the FDA approved the first CAR-T therapy in 2017, Novartis’ Kymriah®, a treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia. This long sought-after coverage decision will now ensure patients have consistent and predictable access to potentially life-saving therapies.^[1]   

New clinical applications in regenerative medicine are motivating an intense interest in easily accessible sources for producing human stem cells. The 2007 breakthrough showing that induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) could be generated directly from adult cells has been a boon to the industry. Since that time, there has been a steady refinement of the cell culture techniques that guide the cell reprogramming process.