Blog | HemaCare

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer cite the use of HemaCare starting materials in the development of a new immune cell validation assay. ^[1]

The new assay is designed to measure dendritic cell activation as a predictor of immunogenicity, so that scientists can assess risk early in the development of new pharmaceuticals. Low immunogenicity points toward a better overall safety profile.

Dendritic cells (DC) are antigen-presenting cells, involved in the initiation and regulation of the immune response. Since DC are tumor-infiltrating cells central to the initiation of antigen-specific immunity, they have long been investigated as a means of improving cancer immunotherapy.

Two teams of scientists have discovered a set of inherited gene variants that can increase the risk of developing mutations in HSC’s in their lifetimes. The mutations can lead to two different age-related disorders: clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential and myeloproliferative neoplasms. 

Advancing age has been associated with an increased risk of various chronic diseases and conditions. Mutations in hematopoietic stem cells increase as people age and may be linked to an increased risk of leukemia and cardiovascular disease. Somatic mutations in hematopoietic stem cells are connected to the development of myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) characterized by an excess of red blood cells, leukocytes, and platelets that leads to an increased susceptibility to develop leukemia.

In a recent publication, researchers at Cellular Technology Ltd. in the U.S., and Complutense University in Madrid, Spain cites using cryopreserved PBMCs from HemaCare for their COVID-19 research. [1]

The scientific group set out to answer one of the most important questions of the COVID-19 pandemic - how can we truly know whether someone has been exposed to the virus?

Widespread COVID-19 testing is helping governments and healthcare workers track the spread of the virus in an ongoing effort to isolate those who may be contagious from those who have not been exposed. However, most people exposed to SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, experience mild disease or are asymptomatic. This means that the presence of SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies may fade quickly after infection, increasing the chance of a false-negative test result.

Researchers found that follicular helper T-cells respond in different ways to structural proteins in COVID-19. They have been studying how the response happens over time.

Several studies report the observance of helper T-cell responses to the virus that causes COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, in over 80% of individuals recovering from COVID-19. Besides helping in developing cytotoxic T cells, helper T cells stimulate B cells to produce antibodies. Therefore, T cells may help in the development of neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.

The use of HemaCare-sourced macrophages has been cited in a recent publication in the Journal of Immunology. The paper is a collaboration between the University of Maryland in College Park, and biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. ^[1]

The role of macrophages in the human immune system is not nearly as well-known as T cells or B cells, which are seemingly ubiquitous in the cell and gene therapy field. Like lymphocytes, macrophages are derived from hematopoietic stem cells. Unlike the lymphoid lineage, however, myeloid precursors ultimately produce in the macrophage an immune cell capable of both antigen presentation and phagocytic activity.