Xintela's stem cell product XSTEM repairs cartilage damage in preclinical model

Xintela announces that the company's stem cell product XSTEM® regenerates cartilage in a preclinical animal model. The study, a research collaboration between Xintela and the University of Copenhagen, designed to increase the understanding of XSTEM's mechanisms of action, confirms XSTEM's potential as a treatment for osteoarthritis.

Xintela has previously shown that the company's integrin α10-selected mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have a treatment effect on cartilage and bone in a post-traumatic osteoarthritis model in horses. In the equine study, allogeneic (donated) equine stem cells derived from adipose tissue were isolated and selected in the same manner as Xintela's human stem cell product XSTEM. 

In order to further investigate XSTEM's mechanisms of action, Xintela has for some time collaborated with Prof. Casper Lindegaard and his research group at the Department of Veterinary Clinical Science at the University of Copenhagen. Recent results from the collaboration show that XSTEM, after injection into a damaged joint in an animal model, homes to the cartilage damage and contributes to repairing the cartilage damage by differentiating into cartilage cells and producing new cartilage tissue. Some of these results were presented at this month’s OARSI (Osteoarthritis Research Society International) conference and the results in their entirety are now being prepared for publication.

– These very important results further confirm that our stem cell product XSTEM has the capability to repair damaged cartilage and is a unique product in the field. Previous studies with other stem cell preparations have questioned the ability of stem cells to differentiate into cartilage cells, for example, and have postulated that stem cells' effects may be merely anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory. Our results clearly demonstrate  that XSTEM directly participates in the regeneration of new cartilage  and that XSTEM therefore has exciting potential to be a so-called DMOAD (Disease Modifying Osteoarthritis Drug) , i.e., a treatment that can prevent further degeneration of the cartilage and even regenerate cartilage tissue. There is currently no DMOAD on the market, says Xintela’s CEO Evy Lundgren-Åkerlund. 

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Xintela AB (publ)
Evy Lundgren-Åkerlund, CEO
Tel: +46 46 275 65 00
Email: evy@xintela.se
Medicon Village
223 81 Lund, Sweden
www.xintela.se 

About Xintela
Xintela develops innovative and patent protected cell therapies and targeted cancer therapies based on the marker technology platform XINMARK. The platform is built on specific cell surface proteins (integrins) and more than 25 years of research and development. Xintela uses the marker technology to select and quality assure stem cells (XSTEM) to develop stem cell therapies for diseases that today lack efficient treatment options, including the joint disease osteoarthritis (OA). Xintela has built an in-house GMP-facility for manufacturing of stem cell products and is preparing a First in Human clinical study on patients with knee OA. In the oncology program, Xintela develops antibody-based therapies for treatment of aggressive tumors including glioblastoma and triple-negative breast cancer. Xintela is listed on Nasdaq First North Growth Market Stockholm since 22 March 2016. Xintela's Certified Adviser at Nasdaq First North Growth Market is Erik Penser Bank AB, +46 8-463 80 00, certifiedadviser@penser.se.