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ProtoKinetix (OTC: PKTX) (www.protokinetix.com) is pleased to be able to report a comprehensive transplantation testing program being conducted for the last two years in conjunction with the University of Alberta transplant research team. The Company is collaborating with the James Shapiro Laboratory at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta. Dr. Shapiro directs the largest clinical islet transplantation program in the world. Dr. Shapiro is a professor of surgery, medicine and surgical oncology. He is director of the Clinical Islet Transplant Program and the Living Donor Liver Transplant Programs at the University of Alberta. He is also principal investigator of National Institute of Health and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation clinical trials. In addition to these positions, he is the leader of the Project 1 - Ex-vivo Organ Transplant Protection and Repair Program of the Canadian National Transplant Research Program. During the last 24-months, Dr. Shapiro’s Ph.D. student, Dr Boris Gala-Lopez, and his team have conducted extensive testing with our AAGP™ molecule using human islet cells in transplantation, investigating its effect on engraftment, insulin production, protective effect against anti-rejection drugs and investigation of the mechanism of action. The results provided consistent encouragement to continue testing to develop protocols that can be applied to transplantation medicine. Allogeneic transplantation is the transplanting of cells, tissues or organs from the same species, but not with the host DNA. Serious issues that have to be addressed are the engraftment of the transplanted organ or cells and the subsequent protection against the immune response. The protection, in the form of anti-rejection drugs, is toxic and causes damage to the graft. AAGP™ has been shown in these trials to increase engraftment and reduce the toxicity damage. Dr. Shapiro says “We are all very encouraged by the early results of these studies, and I look forward to working with the Company in moving toward use of AAGP™ in future clinical applications”.
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