Eterna announces presentation of Raven Hinkel at Gene + Cell Therapy meeting

Eterna Therapeutics announces that Raven Hinkel will present at the 27th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Gene + Cell Therapy, taking place in Baltimore, Maryland. While mesenchymal stem cells, or MSCs, have repeatedly demonstrated significant therapeutic potential in numerous preclinical models, their clinical translation has been greatly impeded by variability in therapeutic responses. This variability is often attributed to donor and source heterogeneity and limited expansion potential. Furthermore, MSCs can exhibit limited in vivo persistence due to clearance by host immune cells, which can also contribute to deficient therapeutic responses. Induced pluripotent stem cell, or iPSC,-derived MSCs, or iMSCs, promise to directly address many of the fundamental challenges facing MSC translation. The abstract concludes that B2M-KO iMSCs are more likely to evade immune clearance and exert their immunomodulatory effects, as demonstrated by their enhanced sensitivity of IDO1 expression and their improved ability to inhibit PBMC proliferation. Our data suggest that B2M-KO iMSCs may be a promising therapeutic agent for T-cell mediated autoimmune and inflammatory indications.