Keio University

Advanced Industrial Science and Technology

Masanori Sakaguchi

Hideyuki Okano

Hidehiro Mizusawa

Jun Hirabayashi

Satoru Ishibashi

Kazunobu Sawamoto

James Hirotaka Okano

Methods for enhancing survival and/or proliferation of neural stem cells and pharmaceutical compositions containing neural stem cells prepared by such methods, together with methods for assaying factors enhancing survival and/or proliferation of neural stem cells and methods for screening for such factors. Either Galectin-1 is overexpressed in neural stem cells or neural stem cells are cultured in a liquid medium containing Galectin-1. Pharmaceutical compositions containing Galectin-1-overexpressing neural stem cells and pharmaceutical composition containing Galectin-1, prepared by the aforementioned methods, improve higher cerebral functions damaged by cerebral ischemia. Further, by seeding neural stem cells at clonal concentrations and determining whether the seeded neural stem cells are capable of proliferating in an assay medium to be assayed, whether the factor enhances survival and/or proliferation of neural stem cells is assayed and a factor enhancing survival and/or proliferation of neural stem cells are identified using this assay method.

Methods for enhancing survival and/or proliferation of neural stem cells and neurite extension enhancers therefor pharmaceutical compositions containing neural stem cells assay methods and screening methods

The object of the present invention is to provide methods for inhibiting proliferation of neural stem cells, an agent for inhibiting proliferation of neural stem cells, and methods for using the same. According to the method of the present invention, a galectin-1 inhibitor such as anti-galectin-1 antibody and/or an integrin &#x3b2;1 inhibitor such as anti-integrin &#x3b2;1 antibody is administered to a human or a vertebrate other than human for inhibiting proliferation of neural stem cells. This method can be used for treatment of nerve injury and nerve tumors.

Agent for inhibiting proliferation of neural stem cells

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Masanori Sakaguchi