Retinal pigment epithelium cell therapy
AssigneeThe Regents of the University of California
InventorSteven Daniel Schwartz
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Abstract
Compositions of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells, such as autologous induced pluripotent stem cell-derived RPE cells, and their use in treating eye disorders are described.
Claims37
A preparation comprising retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells differentiated from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), wherein at least 80% of the RPE cells are PMEL17 (+)/CD140b (+)/GD2 (−)/CD184 (−).
A preparation comprising retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells differentiated from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), wherein the preparation has undergone at least one freeze/thaw cycle and has at least 80%, 90%, or 95% viability (e.g., as determined by trypan blue staining), relative to a reference preparation comprising RPE cells differentiated from iPSCs and not having undergone at least one freeze/thaw cycle.
A method of manufacturing a preparation of RPE cells, the method comprising:
- propagating fibroblasts from a skin sample or propagating peripheral blood mononuclear cells from a whole blood sample;
- producing iPSCs from the fibroblasts or from the peripheral blood mononuclear cells;
- differentiating the iPSCs into a culture of RPE cells;
- and
- passaging the culture of RPE cells for at least 10 minutes using a dissociation reagent until at least 95% of the cultured RPE cells exhibit confluent hexagonal cells, pigmentation, cobblestone configuration, and well defined membrane borders, thereby producing a preparation of RPE cells.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.