Stem Cell: Starving stem cells induces pluripotency

Monday, September 15, 2008

Hello manoj kumar valluru,

As you may know, caloric restriction is the only reproducible method of extenting lifespan. A patent issued last week (#7,422,736) applies this concept to stem cells ! The patent covers a method of generating pluripotent stem cells from mesenchymal stem cells by starving them of serum. Now given that the method used for selecting pluripotent cells is ability to induce teratoma formation, the inventor/assignee may have some issues with regulators. Nevertheless, it is an interesting patent worth reading.

Last week we were at the BioPharm 2008 meeting in Atlanta and couldn't help but notice the large interest of Big Pharma in small molecules for modulating regenerative processes. Interestingly, last week patent 7,423,029 was issued which covers some novel families of small molecule compounds for stimulating hematopoiesis. Too bad the inventor was not at the conference !!

Also, an interesting paper was published last week demonstrating reduced SDF-1 levels in plasma of patients with Alzheimer's. The authors previously published that this patient population has lower numbers of circulating CD34 stem cells. The hypothesis, if we understood correctly, is that reduction in circulating stem cells is associated with impaired ability to repair neurodegeneration.

Somatic pluripotent cells

Patent Number: 7,422,736

Assignee | Inventor

Numerous patents exist on various types of stem cells. For example, Osiris has overarching patents on any cell that expresses the mesenchymal stem cell markers SH2, SH3, or SH4. An example of which is US patent # 5,486,359, in which the broadest claim covers "An isolated, homogeneous...[Read More]

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Low Hematopoietic Stem Cells in Alzheimer's?

Friday September 12th, 2008 @ 23:29:24 EST

Tübingen, Germany -

The chemokine SDF-1 is known to attract hematopoietic stem cells and mesenchymal stem cells. Under basal conditions it is produced by the bone marrow stromal cells, this is why hematopoietic stem cell transplants can be performed by...[Read More]

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