A new Israeli company is using the natural process of cell death to help people undergoing transplants of all kinds live longer. This counterintuitive approach is the vision of Cellect – and could radically change the way people with leukemia manage their disease.
Stem cells hold the promise to eradicate cancer and other devastating diseases. But one of the biggest bottlenecks for clinicians and researchers is getting enough stem cells in a blood sample to use in transplantation.
If too many of the donor’s regular body cells are left in the sample, a patient undergoing a bone-marrow transplant will probably suffer an immune reaction, which can be deadly. In fact, about half of all bone-marrow transplants lead to graft vs. host disease, requiring a lifetime of immunosuppressant drugs.
A new approach to harvesting stem cells is required, says Dr. Shai Yarkoni, a medical doctor, biomed expert and co-founder and CEO of Cellect.
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