Biological Therapies Beyond Cells

primary goal of tissue engineering

create replacement tissues and organs for worn out or diseased body parts

tissue engineering can create

vegan burger with soy leghemoglobin

cost per burger

6 cents

xenotransplantation 

use pig because it’s similar to human

hurdles in xenotransplantation

foreign epitopes, pervs/bacterias/exogenous viruses, coagulation factors incompatibility

hyperacute rejection

large amounts of anti-a-gal antibodies

anti-a-gal percentage in person

1-2% of igg

anti-a-gal grams in body

1.6 ± 0.8 grams

a-1,3-gal is a

sugar

a-gal is specifically a

trisaccharide

humans and other primates

do not make a gal

prevention from hyperacute rejection

knock out a-gal epitope by inactivating a-1,3-galactosyltransferase gene

a gal transferase gene discovered in

1995

three key technology

genetics/bioinformatics

molecular/cell biology

large animal genetics

production of -/- a 1,3-galactosyltransferase deficient pigs

pigs are humanized

organs from gal knockout pigs did not undergo

HAR

cd46 addon

moderates action of immune system

bennet died from

porcine cytomegalovirus (herpes, endemic)

ongoing problem

long term immunorejection

leeches promote

blood vessel restoration in reattachment surgeries

leeches secrete saliva with

anticoagulants, protein inhibitors

mesenchymal stromal cells

stops overaggressive immune system

leech markey size

has decreased

leech market size

~10 million dollars

maggots

remove infected/damaged/dead tissue

any physician can

prescribe maggot therapy

maggot patients a year

100,000

helminths

may help with autoimmune diseases

helminth upregulate

Treg cells