ImmuStem™

ImmuStem™ is an immune-tolerant adult-derived MSC product for the treatment of graft-versus-host disease. MSCs have been advanced to various states of development by major U.S. biotech companies and have repeatedly demonstrated immunosuppressive, anti-inflammatory and regenerative properties. Currently, the underlying mechanism for immune tolerance of MSCs is not well understood and appears to be transient in nature. Escape scientists recently discovered a rare subpopulation of MSCs in the fat tissue of humans that possess persistent immunosuppressive effects. These purified MSCs were found to express a unique cell surface protein that appears to enable allogeneic cells to evade immune detection. When these rare human MSCs were purified and transplanted into immunocompetent mice, up to a 300-fold increase in survival was observed relative to wildtype human MSCs. Further studies to characterize the mechanism underlying these effects revealed these cells are capable of specifically blocking the cytotoxic arm of the immune system, providing a significant relevance for treatment of type I diabetes. The advantages of a cell-based immunosuppressive lie in their ability to achieve these effects in the absence of end-organ damage thereby providing increased safety for patients. Escape's ImmuStem™ product will allow physicians to safely and efficaciously treat this life-threatening condition with a more favorable dosing regimen due to its advantageous persistent rather than transient immunosuppressive effect. This may obviate the need for an exact bone marrow match helping reduce the needless loss of life in patients afflicted with hematologic disorders such as leukemia.

R&D

ImmuStem™