Lymph nodes in a test tube
Prellis Biologics will put the production of human lymph nodes on stream
Stepan Ikaev, Hi-tech+
The American startup Prellis Biologics has presented a platform for the production of lymph node organoids. The company claims that the Externalized Immune System (EXIS) is the first of its kind system for studying drugs and the immune system in the laboratory. With the help of EXIS, scientists will be able to test new types of immunotherapy for cancer and other diseases, quickly test the effectiveness of vaccines, and in the future use the same approach for organ production and transplantation.
According to the company's press release, Prellis Biologics specializes in tissue engineering - the startup is developing new tools for 3D printing of human organs. The activity is focused on the creation of vascular frameworks for the cultivation of healthy and oxygenated human organs. This approach can be useful in two areas — for organ transplantation without donors and for testing experimental drugs in the laboratory. Recently, Prellis Biologics has made progress in one of the key projects — a group of biologists has successfully grown full-fledged human lymph nodes.
The official name of the new technology is Externalized Immune System (EXIS), while the developers themselves call it "the immune system in vitro". The platform works in the same way as the lymph node of a living person. EXIS provides intercellular interactions in tissues and immune responses, switching of B-cell classes, somatic hypermutation and many other elements of living organs.
"By creating this immune system in vitro, we can really test whether new therapeutics will trigger an immune response before they enter the human body. The advantage of our system is that EXIS is completely "human" and this is a "boxed" solution," explained founder and CEO Melanie Mateu.
First of all, the Prellis Biologics approach will be useful in the development of antibody-based drugs. The company will be able to grow many lymph nodes in the laboratory and test different types of the same drug on each of them. Thus, the developers want to speed up clinical trials of new drugs, reduce the risk for participants in experiments and accelerate the commercialization of medical solutions. Mateu pays special attention to the treatment of oncological and autoimmune diseases — it will become easier to fight such diseases with EXIS, Prellis Biologics is confident.
Simultaneously with the announcement of EXIS, the startup received $14.5 million in venture capital investments for testing and improving its platform. The funding round was led by the Celesta Capital fund, which was joined by the last investor of the startup — Khosla Ventures Prellis. Prellis Biologics will direct the funds received for additional testing and promotion of the technology in scientific circles.
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