Tissera Inc. (fka TSSR)

[geopic]

Only about 2 and a half years for me. Hope you're right.
DHANA link gave this info:
"Embryonic pig pancreas transplant reduces immune reaction

A primate study shows that embryonic tissue from pigs, after transplantation, can grow into a whole pancreas in the host's body. Gil Hecht and colleagues suggest that using an embryonic instead of an adult pancreas helps the host develop the organ and infiltrate it with a network of blood vessels, which reduces the intensity of the immune reaction to the foreign tissue. Pig organs have long been considered for transplantation into humans, but the intense immune reaction and the potent combination of drugs that would be needed to suppress a potential organ rejection have been significant barriers. The researchers transplanted embryonic pig pancreases into two cohorts of two monkeys. The animals were then treated to induce artificial diabetes. In the first cohort, infection set in and caused early death. The authors discovered that their initial estimate of the dosage necessary for immunosuppression had been too high in these animals, and were able to reduce it substantially for the second cohort, which survived nearly a year after transplantation. The key achievement was that the monkeys required virtually no external insulin for four months after the operation. In contrast to adult tissue, transplanted embryonic islets exhibited a marked capacity to withstand stress and regenerate, the authors say.

Article #08-12253: "Embryonic pig pancreatic tissue for the treatment of diabetes: Proof of concept in non-human primates," by Gil Hecht, Smadar Eventov-Friedman, Chava Rosen, Elias Shezen, Dalit Tchorsh, Anna Aronovich, Enrique Freud, Hana Golan, Ronit El-Hasid, Helena Katchman, et al.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST REPORTED

Professor Yair Reisner is a scientific consultant and holds equity with Tissera, Inc. which supported this work.

MEDIA CONTACT: Yair Reisner, Department of Immunology, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, ISRAEL; tel: [phone]; e-mail: [e-mail]"

g.p.