Ainhoa Murua, Rosa Hernández,
José Luis Pedraz and Gorka Orive

A study carried out by a group of researchers from the Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) and the Centre for Biomedical Network Research into Bioengineering, Biomaterials, and Nanomedicine (Ciber-BBN) have been proclaimed winners in the IX ASEDEF Prizes in the category for Innovation. This award, which is given annually by the Spanish Association for Pharmaceutical Law (ASEDEF), rewards healthcare research into drugs and their contribution to people’s health.

The winning research, carried out by Dr. José Luis Pedraz, Dr.Gorka Orive and Dr. Rosa Mª Hernández as well as the doctorate student Ainhoa Murua, is entitled “Xenogenic transplantation of erythropoietin-secreting cells immobilized in microcapsules using transient immunosuppression”, and was published in 2009 in the journal Journal of Controlled Release.

Microencapsulation of cells is considered an important area of research for obtaining controlled and sustained liberation of different therapeutic proteins, among them erithropoyetine (Epo). However, the clinical application of this technology has been blocked, among other reasons, by the fact that encapsulated cells have a reduced long-term survival rate.

There are also problems related with the rejection of microencapsulated cells by the immune system after transplants when the transplant is xenogenic (transplanted from another species). In this award-winning research work, the effects of setting up short-term immunosuppressant treatments were studied in animals (Tacrolimus given intramuscularly for 4 weeks). It was therefore possible to increase the survival of cells via this temporary treatment, which acted as an immunosuppressant.

The results obtained from this research are important, as the rejection of an implant caused by the immune response of the host organism can be minimised effectively by using transient immunosuppression, without needing to give long-term treatment.