Inventors:
Shahin Rafii - New York NY, US
Sergey V. Shmelkov - New York NY, US
Marco Seandel - New York NY, US
Sai H. Chavala - Durham NC, US
Assignee:
CORNELL RESEARCH FOUNDATION, INC. - Ithaca NY
SLOAN-KETTERING INSTITUTE FOR CANCER RESEARCH - New York NY
International Classification:
A61K 35/12, C12N 5/074, G01N 33/53, A61P 35/00
US Classification:
424 937, 435325, 435352, 435363, 435366, 435351, 435350, 435368, 435371, 435 721
Abstract:
The present invention relates to GPR1 25 as a marker of stem and progenitor cells, including multipotent adult spermatogonial-derived stem cells (MASCs), spermatogonial stem and progenitor cells, skin stem or progenitor cells, intestinal stem or progenitor cells, neural stem or progenitor cells, and cancer stem cells. The invention provides, inter alia, methods for enriching or isolating GPR125-positive stem or progenitor cells, methods for detecting GPR125-positive stem or progenitor cells, methods for culturing GPR125-positive stem or progenitor cells, purified GPR125-positive stem or progenitor cells, therapeutic compositions containing purified GPR125-positive stem or progenitor cells, methods for targeting therapeutic agents to GPR125-positive stem and progenitor cells, and methods of treatment comprising administering GPR125-positive stem and progenitor cells, or differentiated cells derived therefrom, to subjects in need thereof. The present invention also provides methods of detecting cancer cells based on GPR1 25 expression, and methods of targeting therapeutic agents to cancer cells to GPR125-positive cancer cells.