MAKING CELL THERAPY SAFE: Cell therapies are largely derived from induced pluripotent cells or embryonic cells and have the potential of reverting back to the original cell state or forming teratomas (tumours). FailSafe® is linked to cell division so if a cell is proliferating it also expresses the safety switch or suicide gene. FailSafe® is superior to other systems of suicide genes as it will not become "lost" or "shut down" during a "mutation" or if the cell becomes deregulated or "goes rogue". FailSafe® can be controlled both prior to or after transplantation in a patient and we have the capability of quantifying the risk of a therapy going awry.
panCELLa thanks the University of Edinburgh and Dr. Clare Parish for granting permission to share this presentation.