Hematopioetic transplantation is the most common and successful example of stem cell therapy. In patients with hematological disease, there continues to be a short supply of stem cells from bone marrow and umbilical cord blood because of the lack of sufficient number of immunologically compatible donors and the low number of hematopoietc stem cells (HSCs). Direct programming of HSCs from differentiated cells from patients or suitable donors offers a method that overcomes existing limitations and provides an unlimited source of material for treatment.
Professors Ihor Lemischka, Kateri Moore and their group at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have developed a method involving a set of transcription factors to reprogram differentiated cells into hematopoietic stem cells. The method appears to recapitulate the generation of HSCs during fetal development and will provide a means to produce patient-specific blood products with greater potential than other reported methods.
Patent Status: Patent Pending
Technology: Method, Platform