Keratinocyte stem cells
AssigneePeter MacCallum Cancer Institute
InventorsPritinder Kaur, Paul J. Simmons
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Enrichment for human Keratinocyte Stem Cells KSCs to a high degree of purity can be successfully achieved on the basis of a cell surface component whose expression is proliferation-related in conjunction with an integrin such as the α6β4 integrin. Transferrin receptor may be used as the cell surface component that is proliferation related. Enrichment of Transit amplifying cells can also be achieved by use of a variation of this method. The enrichment follows on from harvesting of cells from an epithelium, preferably rich in stem cells.
Claims32
A method of enriching for a viable subpopulation of epidermal cells having an altered proliferative potential compared with an unfractionated population of epidermal cells, wherein said subpopulation is keratinocyte stem cells (KSC) or transit amplifying (TA) cells, said method comprising the steps of:
- (a) harvesting a population of epidermal cells,
- (b) enriching the population resulting from step (a) for cells expressing a higher level of a cell surface integrin compared with an unfractionated population of epidermal cells, wherein said integrin comprises a subunit selected from the group consisting of α2, α3, α6, β1, and β4, and
- (c) enriching the population resulting from step (b) for cells expressing either a lower level or a higher level of a marker associated with proliferation compared with an unfractionated population of epidermal cells, wherein said marker is selected from the group consisting of transferrin receptor, epidermal growth factor receptor, insulin growth factor receptor and keratinocyte growth factor receptor, thereby enriching for said viable subpopulation of epidermal cells.
A purified KSC population having a purity of greater man 50%.
A purified KSC population comprising cells that (i) express a higher level of a cell surface integrin compared with an unfractionated population of epidermal cells, wherein said integrin comprises a subunit selected from the group consisting of α2, α3, α6, β1 and β4, and (ii) express a lower level of a marker associated with proliferation compared with an unfractionated population of epidermal cells, wherein said marker is selected from the group consisting of transferrin receptor, epidermal growth factor receptor, insulin growth factor receptor and keratinocyte growth factor receptor.
A purified TA cell population comprising cells that (i) express a higher level of cell surface integrin compared with an unfractionated population of epidermal that cells, wherein said integrin comprises a subunit selected from the group consisting of Ε2, α3, α6, β1, and β4, and (ii) express a higher level of a marker associated with proliferation compared with an unfractionated population of epidermal cells, wherein said marker is selected from the group consisting of transferrin receptor, epidermal growth factor receptor, insulin growth factor receptor and keratinocyte growth factor receptor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.