Sana Biotechnology Presents Data at ISSCR 2022 Annual Meeting Showing Survival of Transplanted Hypoimmune iPSC-Derived Differentiated Cell Types Without Immunosuppression in Non-Human Primates
SEATTLE, June 17, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sana Biotechnology, Inc. (NASDAQ: SANA), a company focused on creating and delivering engineered cells as medicines, presented data showing survival of transplanted allogeneic, hypoimmune cells of several different types in a variety of locations in non-human primates (NHPs). The transplanted cells were induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived cardiomyocytes, retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells, and islet cells, which were engineered to include Sana’s hypoimmune gene modifications that enable immune evasion. Data were presented by Sonja Schrepfer, M.D., Ph.D., Head of Hypoimmune Platform at Sana, during sessions at the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) 2022 Annual Meeting taking place from Wednesday, June 15 through Sunday, June 19 in San Francisco.
- Transplanting cells or tissues from a donor to a different recipient currently requires intense immunosuppression to prevent rejection of the transplant.
- Sanas HIP platform goal is to eliminate the need for immunosuppression by cloaking cells from immune recognition.
- These changes alone make cells susceptible to innate immune cell killing, in particular by natural killer (NK) cells.
- In this study, allogeneic primary pancreatic islet cells were HIP edited and transplanted intramuscularly into a healthy NHP without immunosuppression (n=1) as proof-of-concept.