MiCAN Technologies' myeloid lineage cells help researchers fight COVID-19
KYOTO, Japan, Dec. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- MiCAN Technologies, a research service provider based in Kyoto Japan, revealed today that its human myeloid lineage cells[1] have been used to conduct research on the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which is responsible for the COVID-19 infectious disease. Since mid 2020, MiCAN's coronavirus-optimized myeloid lineage cells (cMylc) have been made available for free to research organizations in Japan, which are engaged in coronavirus research. Some 20 organizations accepted this offer and have been using MiCAN's cMylc for COVID-19 research, paving the way for the development of new COVID-19 therapies, vaccines and diagnostics. Today, MiCAN announced that the company is widening this offer, to allow free use of its cMylc products to academic researchers worldwide, who are working on research addressing the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.
Coronavirus-optimized myeloid lineage cells
MiCAN's cMylc are research cells modified to be used in studying the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. The myeloid cells were generated from induced pluripotent stem cells[2] and genes related to SARS-CoV-2 infection process were introduced. Subsequently these cells demonstrated the ability to propagate the virus in human blood cells, in particular dendritic cells and monocytes[3].
[1] Myeloid lineage cells originate in the bone marrow and under normal conditions, differentiate into the white blood cells, which are necessary for the immune system. |
[2] Pluripotent stem cells are cells with the capacity to self-renew and differentiate into other cells of the body. Induced pluripotent stem cells have been engineered in the laboratory by converting tissue-specific cells into cells that behave like embryonic stem cells. |
[3] Monocytes are a type of white blood cell that can differentiate into macrophages and myeloid lineage dendritic cells, which are antigen-presenting cells. |
The viral infection and proliferation effects of these cMylc cells is comparable to monkey-derived cells (VeroE6/TMPRSS2 cells), which are commonly-used to study COVID-19. MiCAN has also developed an accompanying, ready-to-use kit, which contains the cell medium, reagent solutions and other items in the optimum combination necessary to culture these cells.
Researchers can use MiCAN's cMylc cells and kit to evaluate how immune cells are affected by SARS-CoV-2 infection. They can also be used to evaluate the safety and efficacy of new COVID-19 drug and vaccine candidates accurately and quickly, helping lower the cost of drug discovery.
Benefits of MiCAN's cMylc cells include:
- Human myeloid lineage cells – using these cells to study human infectious diseases will be more relevant than using monkey-derived blood cells;
- High uniformity – these cells have the same genetic background, ensuring high reproducibility of experiments;
- Stable supply – as the cells were generated using induced pluripotent stem cells, they can be produced in sufficient quantities.
"MiCAN succeeded in developing these human myeloid cells, specialized for COVID-19 research through a collaboration with the Research Institute for Microbial Diseases at Osaka University under the auspices of the Kyoto Prefecture's "Project to Combine Technology for Against COVID-19". To help other organizations fight against COVID-19, we offered our proprietary cMylc products to the Japanese research community for free. We are delighted to see some early results of this research in developing new ways to combat COVID-19. To help the global scientific community combat COVID-19, we are widening our free offer of these cMylc products to academic researchers worldwide. This will support efforts to better understand the mechanism of COVID-19 infection, and hopefully lead to new life-saving diagnostics, vaccines and therapies," said Mr.Miyazaki, CEO of MiCAN Technologies.
In addition to its cMylc products, MiCAN also offers a variety of other blood cell products, including red blood cell products for research of malaria infection and other white blood cell products for research of dengue fever and influenza.
Queries on how to obtain these free cMylc cells should be directed to: info2@micantechnologies.com
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