Organ and tissue transplantation can restore health and quality of life to patients whose bodies have been severely damaged. Unfortunately, the patients' immune systems frequently attack donor tissues. To prevent rejection, transplant recipients must undergo dangerous general immunosuppressive therapy, which can leave them vulnerable to a host of infections.

Immune-friendly Transplants through Engineered Veto©

Utilizing Greffex's patented FDHI vector, scientists can alter transplantable tissues to express the CD8 molecule, thereby eliminating an immune reaction to the transplant. This approach only affects the tiny portion of the immune system that is able to recognize that transplant, leaving the other 99.9% untouched. Transplant patients could be freed from the dangers of general immune suppression if they had the benefit of FDHI-treated tissue and organs.

The ability to induce rejection-resistance in transplants would also streamline the process of matching donors to recipients. Today patients can die waiting for organs, especially if they are of a rarer ethnicity. Applied to donor organs and tissues, Greffex's Engineered Veto© technology could largely eliminate the need for specialized matching, making faster, safer transplantations available to more people.

Laboratory Success

Greffex surmounted the obstacle of immune suppression in the lab, making way for a revolution in the field of transplantation. Our scientists have successfully transplanted the following, without any adjuvant immune suppressing drugs such as cyclosporine or FK506©:

• organs (pancreatic islets)
• tissues (engineered skin, as well as heart and lung tissue)
• cell preparations (hepatocytes and stem cells)

Now we are moving into the field of large organs (kidneys).