Ex vivo expanded blood progenitor cells
for faster reconstitution and sustained
blood cell production
Technology Overview
Hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) transplantation, in
some instances following high-dose chemotherapy or
radiation therapy, offers the best treatment option for
most leukemias and other malignant and nonmalignant blood disorders. A HSC transplant can help
the body make enough healthy white blood cells, red
blood cells or platelets to replace damaged or
diseased cells, and reduce the risk of life-threatening
infections, anemia and bleeding.
However, the difficulty of obtaining tissue matched
donors limits the widespread use of allogeneic HSC
transplantation to treat these diseases. One possible
alternative source for HSC grafts is cord blood (CB).
However, currently available banked CB units are
unsuitable for transplantation for more than 90% of
adult patients due to a limited number of HSCs within
a single CB unit, which likely accounts for the high rate
of graft failure and delayed engraftment. Therefore a
better strategy is needed to enable ex vivo expanded
CB grafts capable of shortening time to engraftment
and sustained long term blood cell production in a
host following transplantation as faster recovery times
post CB transplantation would improve outcomes in
this patient population.
Details
UIC researchers have developed separate methods for
ex vivo CB cell expansion using 5-aza-2’-deoxycytidine
following trichostatin and maintenance using valproic
acid. A combination graft of CB cells treated to
improve expansion and maintenance will improve the
outcomes of patients receiving CB grafts. This
technology has the potential to increase the number of
adults who receive CB graft transplants and also
improve leukemia and lymphoma patient outcomes
after receiving CB transplants post chemotherapy.
Applications
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TECHNOLOGY QUICK FACTS
Reference Number
DF072/DF073
Inventor Name
Nadim Mahmud
Hiroto Araki
Campus
Chicago
Publications
Patent
US 2013/0136722 A1
A method of growing and expanding HSCs from
umbilical cord blood donations while
suppressing differentiation but retaining the
self-renewing, multi-potential capability of
HSCs in culture for transplantation
Benefits
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Incorporable with other stem cell technologies
More specific stem cells for quick and long
term treatment
Animal studies have been conducted as
experimental proof of concept
Contact Information
David Klick
312.996.7779
dklick@uic.edu