Rebirthel Co., Ltd. was founded in October, 2019.
Rebirthel aims to realize cell-based therapies against cancer or other immune-related diseases by using universal
T cells that are regenerated from pluripotent stem cells.
The strategy is based on methods developed by myself, Dr. Hiroshi Kawamoto (Kyoto University).
It has been shown to be effective to transfuse genetically engineered T cells that had originally been collected from patients.
However, such “autologous” settings have faced problems: costly, time-consuming, and dependent on the quality of the T cells themselves (from the patients).
To solve these problems, Rebirthel provides “off-the-shelf T cells” that can be universally used with any patients in an allogeneic setting.
Pluripotent stem cells such as iPS (induced pluripotent stem) cells or ES (embryonic stem) cells have the potential to produce various types of tissues/organs.
Rebirthel has already established a method by which potent killer T cells can be produced in vitro from iPS cells.
Using this method, Rebirthel is now developing a strategy where tumor antigen-specific T cells are mass-produced and transfused to patients as off-the-shelf T cells.
Certain types of T cells play the role of commander of immune cells, while other types serve as strong warriors.
Therefore, if we can produce different types of T cells - such as killer T cells, helper T cells, or regulatory T cells - covering a wide range of target antigens, we can provide therapeutic T cells targeting any kind of disease related to the immune system (e.g. cancer, infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases, allergies, etc.).
Rebirthel opens the way to a future when patients go to hospital to receive transfusion of T cells to treat their disease.
Kajii-cho, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto 602-0841 Japan
Business Summary
Rebirthel operationalizes cell-based cancer immunotherapies developed by Professor Hiroshi Kawamoto (Institute for Frontier Life and Medical Sciences, Kyoto University).
Rebirthel will provide “universal” cytotoxic T lymphocytes regenerated from pluripotent stem cells, to be used as “off-the-shelf T cells” in cancer immunotherapy.
Company history
Rebirthel took over all projects and intellectual properties related to killer T cells.
･Regcell raised 620,000,000 JPY through a third-party allocation of new shares.
･Regcell raised 20,000,000 JPY through a third-party allocation of new shares.
Transferred cells will immediately be rejected if the HLA haplotype does not match to that of the recipient.
In the regenerative medicine field, induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells stock projects have been promoted where iPS cells that have been produced from healthy donors carrying the same HLA haplotype in both mother and father-derived alleles.
The cells/tissues regenerated from such iPS cells are expected to be transplanted to recipients who have the same HLA haplotype of at least one allele without inducing a severe rejection reaction.
At present, the most frequent four iPS cell lines are available from the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (Kyoto University), covering 35% of the Japanese population.
We transduce these iPS cells with exogenous TCR and regenerate killer T cells from these iPSCs. Such regenerated T cells will be given to the patients in a HLA homo-to-hetero transfusion setting.
When the HLA genes of iPS cells are deleted, cells/tissues regenerated from such HLA-null-iPS cells can be transplanted to any patient.
This strategy can be applied not only for iPS cells but also for ES cells.
OP9 cell line and its genetically modified derivatives
Rebirthel has succeeded all rights of the OP9 cells from Dr. Hiroaki Kodama (who originally established the OP9 cell line).
You are required to obtain a license from Rebirthel for commercial use of the OP9 cell line or its derivatives.
OP9 cells
In the morning edition of Nihon Keizai Shimbun on October 22nd, 2021 (Page 18, Technology), Rebirthel’s research and development activity was introduced. In the article entitled “iPS cell technology r...
“The dictionary of Biotech Startups in Japan 2021-2022” which covers over 400 bio venture companies was published in June 2021. The news site “Nikkei Biotechnology & Business” is posting a serial ...
Professor Hiroshi Kawamoto, an executive director of Rebirthel, appeared on the morning news program “Asa Chan” (TBS and its affiliated TV station) on July 22nd, 2021. In the slot titled “The front li...
“Forest of Industry-Academia-Government” is the subsidy program to support industry-academia collaboration groups, of which each representative is a small and medium enterprise based in Kyoto prefectu...
Professor Hiroshi Kawamoto’s laboratory, Kyoto University, made an exhibition of its research activity with a booth at Arab Health 2021, held in Dubai, UAE from June 21st to June 24th, 2021. The prese...
Professor Hiroshi Kawamoto, an executive director of Rebirthel and the Vice Director of Institute for Frontier Life and Medical Sciences, Kyoto University, appeared on the TV program “Hodo Station” pr...
In the evening edition of Sankei Shimbun on May 15th, 2021, Professor Hiroshi Kawamoto’s research activity was introduced. The article entitled “Fast-growing university ventures” occupies a large spac...
Center for iPS Cell Research and Application, Kyoto University (CiRA), where Nobel prize winner Professor Shinya Yamanaka serves as the Director, released the latest newsletter Vol. 45 (April 2021). T...
In the morning edition of Nihon Keizai Shimbun on April 26th, 2021 (P. 9), a research activity of the team led by Professor Hiroshi Kawamoto, an executive director of Rebirthel, was introduced. Profes...
In the morning edition of Yomiuri Shimbun on April 9th, 2021 (Science and medicine section, Page 15), the research collaboration among the team led by Professor Hiroshi Kawamoto (Institute for Frontie...
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