The principle

The technical implementation is similar to dialysis through an extracorporeal blood circulation, supplemented by plasmapheresis and a cell circulation.

In the extracorporeal blood circuit, the plasma is removed from the patient's blood with the help of special plasma separators, e.g. separated by a plasma filter. The separated plasma is then transferred to a second circuit in which the immune cells of a healthy blood donor are located. This is where the patient's plasma comes into direct contact with the donor immune cells. These bind and remove bacterial toxins as well as the patient's own waste. Furthermore, the healthy donor immune cells analyze the patient's own immune messengers. The donor immune cells release various immune messengers, as a consequence to the signals received. Then, the treated plasma is separated from the donor immune cells by a second plasma filter and returned to the patient together with the patient's blood. The immune messengers are supposed to reactivate the patient's own immune system. Infections could be effectively treated and organ malfunctions return to normal. The patient's plasma is treated continuously for several hours.

The immune cells are obtained from healthy donors of the same blood group. The extraction takes place according to standard working instructions in a transfusion medical facility with GMP manufacturing license.

In previous studies, so-called granulocyte concentrates were used, which can also be transfused in patients for certain indications. In the ARTICE-Technology, these healthy immune cells are supposed to take over partial functions of the burned out patient immune cells.