What is the difference between TriStem’s stem cell technology and other currently available stem cell technologies?

You don't need a donor as the patient is his/her own donor (The use of material from another human can run the risk of immune system rejection). The stem cells can be produced in large quantities relatively cheaply and the method avoids current ethical problems. No invasive surgical procedure or anaesthetic is required.

Retrodifferentiation, sounds funky, what does it mean with respect to pluripotent stem cells?
Essentially, the technology we are proposing has the ability to reprogramme mature adult blood cells to a more primitive stage (i.e. pluripotent stem cell). This stem cell is then able to develop along one of several different pathways into a variety of tissue types (e.g. muscle, cartilage, neurons).

Are you sure what you have isolated is really pluripotent stem cells and how?
Yes, because they have been characterized using standard assay methods such as clonal assay, flow cytometry, long-term culture and molecular biological techniques e.g. PCR, RT-PCR and Southern blotting.

How long does it take to generate the pluripotent stem cells?
Pluripotent stem cells are generated within hours of collecting and processing the blood samples.

Can the technology be applied to both healthy and leukaemic patients to source stem cells?
Yes.

What are the implications and potential of the technology in terms of its therapeutic use?
Many diseases (e.g. Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, heart, diabetes) result from the dysfunction of a single cell type. With TriStem's technology, the introduction of healthy cells of a particular type in large quantities into a patient could potentially restore a lost or compromised function. In addition, the retrodifferentiation process can also help us to understand better, and possibly treat, cancer and AIDS.

Is this technological process like cloning/genetic engineering?
No. It does not involve the use of human embryos or foetal tissue nor does it involve any genetic manipulation.

How long will it be before your technology is available to patients?
Retrodifferentiated Stem Cell Therapy to treat various disorders is available now at Park Lane Hospital in Karachi, Pakistan.   Very shortly there will be another location opened in the Caribbean. Please call or send an e-mail about opening date of the second facility.

Have you been able to produce neural stem cells?
Yes. Images of neural stem cells produced from retrodifferentiation can be found on TriStem’s website. www.tristemcorp.com

Can TriStem's technology be used to produce blood?
Yes. The technology can generate large numbers of erythroid progenitors that can develop into red blood cells in liquid culture. Similarly, other specialised cell types that constitute blood and that are also important in transfusion medicine, such as platelets, can be produced in large quantities.

Who is the blood donor?
Patients donate their own blood, which will be converted to stem cells. Alternatively, a compatible donor can be used.

Has stem cell therapy been used to treat 'liquid' cancers such as leukaemia?
Yes. Autologous and allogeneic stem cell transplants have been used to treat leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma, including some solid tumours such as breast and ovarian cancers.

What is the risk of using a leukaemia patient's own blood cells to create stem cells?
There is no conceivable additional risk to using the patient's own blood cells. Any risk of immune rejection is nullified because of a perfect tissue match. In certain cases, an allogeneic stem cell transplant is preferred to deliberately mount an immune response against host tumour cells. This latter process is facilitated by TriStem's technology because the technology enables the production of stem cells from healthy blood donors without the need for invasive surgical procedures or anaesthesia. Consequently, this technology is donor-friendly, and increases the options available for the transplant recipient to locate a viable donor in a relatively short period of time.

How can you control conversion from stem cell to a specific mature cell type?
Stem cells are incubated in a rigorously controlled environment that determines the redifferentiation pathway they follow. Stem cells may become new cell types ('transdifferentiation') or they may mature along their original pathway (re-ontogeny). The technology also exists to identify the type of cell resulting from the differentiation of stem cells in the laboratory.