Corline Systems AB

Corline has had an important study of its technology published in a leading scientific journal. An Australian research group, including well-know diabetes researcher Bernie Tuch, has found that CHS down-regulates foreign body response when encapsulated cells are implanted into mice.

“Encapsulation techniques have been under development for more than 20 years without scientists or companies arriving at a fully functioning product. One problem has been fibrotic overgrowth on the capsule surface due to foreign body response which is partly explained by inflammatory reactions. One of the important basic functions of CHS is to attenuate inflammation at the site of implantation and our technology seems to add an important enhancement to encapsulation technologies that may well prove to be groundbreaking for this promising cell therapy delivery vehicle. ”, comments CEO Henrik Nittmar.

The study – titled ‘Beneficial Effects of Coating Alginate Microcapsules with Macromolecular Heparin Conjugates - In vitro and In vivo Study’ – shows that by attaching Corline’s CHS technology to the surface of small alginate capsules containing insulin producing Islets of Langerhans, the detrimental fibrotic overgrowth of the capsules can be reduced by up to 65 % while maintaining functional integrity of the cells. This is a very important finding as it may improve the survival of implanted encapsulated cells, such as human islets to diabetes type 1 patients. 

Corline is developing its heparin conjugate for a multitude of clinical applications in the Regenerative Medicine space, both in partnership with industrial companies from many corners of the world, and together with international research groups in Europe, the US and Australia. A common denominator is that all projects use the same core technology.

One example of Corline’s internally developed project is to use the unique heparin coating technology CHS, to protect cells for different types of cell therapies. In this setting CHS can attenuate blood mediated inflammatory reactions and save the implanted cells from destruction when transplanted to patients. The Swedish Medical Products Agency has given its approval to start clinical trials for this promising technology for patients with severe diabetes type-1.

Ref: Vaithilingam et al., Tissue Engineering Part A, 2013, Aug 25