Other

University of Southern California

Mello Biotechnology, Inc.

Wjwu & Lynn Institute for Stem Cell Research and Mello Biotechnology

Wjwu & Lynn Institute for Stem Cell Research

Mello Biotech Taiwan Co., Ltd.

Epiclone Inc.

Lin, Shi-lung

Wu, David Ts

Ying, Shao-yao

Chang-lin, Samantha

Shi-Lung Lin

Donald C Chang

Shao-Yao Ying

David T S Wu

Samantha Chang-Lin

Yi-Wen Lin

David Ts Wu

Cheng-Ming Chuong

Chin-Tsyh Donald Chang

Chih-Li Lin

Hsin-Hua Li

Te-Jen Lai

Hsuan-Hsuan Lu

Jack S K Chen

Randall B Widelitz

This invention generally relates to a composition and its method of use for inducing adult stem cell (ASC) expansion and/or derivation in vitro, using miR-302-like pre-miRNAs, shRNAs and/or siRNAs, all of which contain a shared sequence of 5'-UAAGUGCUUC CAUGUUU-3&#x2032; (SEQ ID NO: 7) in the 5&#x2032;-end, and further in conjunction with the use of some wound-healing-related defined factors, including but not limited to basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF)/fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF-2), leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), insulin-like growth factor (IGF), Epidermal growth factor (EGF), platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), transforming growth factor (TGF), tumor necrosis factor (TNF), stem cell factor (SCF), homeobox proteins (HOX), Notch, GSK, Wnt/beta-Catenin signals, interleukins, and/or bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs). The principle of the present invention is related to a novel mechanism of inducible symmetric ASC division recently found in a skin wound healing model in vivo. The resulting amplified ASCs are useful for treating a variety of human aging- and cell dysfunction-associated disorders, including but not limited to Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, motor neuron disease, stroke, diabetes, osteoporosis, myocardial infraction, hemophilia, anemia, AIDS, leukemia, lymphoma and many kinds of cancers as well as aging.

In-vitro induction of adult stem cell expansion and derivation

This invention generally relates to a group of novel chemical compositions and their use for formulating RNA- and/or DNA-based medicine drugs/vaccines into stable compound complexes useful for both in-vitro and in-vivo delivery. Particularly, the present invention teaches the synthesis of a group of novel trimethylglycyl chemicals and their use for formulating cosmetic, therapeutic- and/or pharmaceutical-grade nucleic acid compositions, including but not limited microRNA precursors (pre-miRNA/miRNA), small hairpin RNAs (shRNA), short interfering RNAs (siRNA), ribozymes, antisense oligonucleotides, RNA-DNA hybrids and DNA-based vectors/vaccines, with or without modification, into delivery complexes, which can then be absorbed by cells in vivo, ex vivo and/or in vitro through an active mechanism of endocytosis via acetylcoline receptors for releasing the therapeutic and pharmaceutical effects of the formulated nucleic acid compositions.

Trimethylglycylglycerin compositions and their use in developing anti-cancer drugs and RNA vaccines

This invention generally relates to a composition and method of using recombinant microRNAs (miRNA) and their hairpin-like precursors (pre-miRNA) as therapeutic drugs for treating Alzheimer's diseases (AD). More specifically, the present invention relates to the use of man-made miRNA miR-302 precursors (pre-miR-302) for AD therapy in humans. These pre-miR-302 molecules can be mass produced in prokaryotes as a form of DNA expression-competent DNA vectors and/or hairpin-like RNAs. As prokaryotic cells do not transcribe or process hairpin-like RNAs, the present invention also teaches a method for expressing pre-miRNAs in prokaryotes, i.e. pro-miRNA, using a novel hairpin-like RNA transcription mechanism newly found in prokaryotes. Additionally, since miR-302 is a well-known embryonic stem cell (ESC)-specific factor in humans, our novel findings of this invention can be further used to advance the designs and development of novel regenerative medicine for treating many other ageing-related degenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's diseases, osteoporosis, diabetes, and cancers.

Composition and method of using miR-302 precursors as drugs for treating Alzheimer's diseases

This invention generally relates to a composition and method of using mam-made small RNAs, such as small interfering RNAs (siRNA), microRNAs (miRNA) and their hairpin-like precursors (pre-miRNA), as tumor suppressing anti-cancer drugs for treating human tumors and cancers, in particular, but not limited, for treating skin (melanoma), blood (leukemia), prostate, breast, liver and lung cancers as well as various neoplastic tumors, such as brain tumors and teratocarcinomas that contain a variety of tumorous and cancerous cells derived from all three germ layers of tissues, including ectoderm, mesoderm and endoderm. More specifically, the present invention relates to the use of miR-302-like siRNA (siR-302) and/or miR-302 precursors (pre-miR-302) for developing novel medicines and therapies against a variety of human cancers, in particular lung cancers.

Composition and method of using miR-302 precursors as anti-cancer drugs for treating human lung cancer

This invention generally relates to a composition and its production method useful for developing drugs and/or therapies for enhancing wound healing, in particular scarless wound healing. Particularly, the present invention teaches the essential processes necessary for producing and purifying embryonic stem cell (ESC)-specific RNA compositions, such as messenger RNAs (mRNA), microRNA precursors (pre-miRNA), and small hairpin RNAs (shRNA), which are useful for treating human diseases and lesions.

Composition for producing microRNA precursors as drugs for enhancing wound healing and production method of the microRNA precursors

This invention is related to a novel sugar-like chemical composition and its use for diabetes therapy. Particularly, the present invention teaches the use of monosaccharide-like glycylated sugar alcohol compounds to block or reduce sugar absorption in diabetes patients, so as to prevent the risk of hyperglycemia symptoms. Glycylation of sugar alcohols is a totally novel reaction that has never been reported before. Therefore, the novelty of the present invention is that for the first time glycylated sugar alcohols not only was found but also was found to be useful for treating Diabetes mellitus. In addition, the present invention teaches a method for producing these glycylated sugar alcohols. In sum, the present invention includes not only a kind of novel sugar-like chemical compositions and its use for treating diabetes but also a state-of-the-art protocol and methodology for producing such a novel composition via glycylation of sugars and sugar alcohols.

Use of monosaccharide-like glycylated sugar alcohol compositions for designing and developing anti-diabetic drugs

Use of novel monosaccharide-like glycylated sugar alcohol compositions for designing and developing anti-diabetic drugs

This invention generally relates to a composition and its production method useful for developing drugs/vaccines and/or therapies against a variety of degenerative diseases in humans. Particularly, the present invention teaches the essential steps of production and purification processes necessary for producing small hairpin-like RNA (shRNA) compositions, such as microRNA precursors (pre-miRNA) and short interfering RNAs (siRNA), which are useful for treating human ageing related diseases, such as, but not limited, Alzheimer's diseases, Parkinson's diseases, osteoporosis, diabetes, and cancers. The novelty of the present invention is to create an artificially enhanced adaptation environment for prokaryotic cells to adopt eukaryotic pol-2 and/or pol-2-like promoters for transcribing desired ncRNAs and/or their precursors without going through error-prone prokaryotic promoters, so as to improve the productive efficiency and reading fidelity of the shRNA transcription in the prokaryotic cells. The resulting shRNAs, preferably pre-miRNAs and siRNAs, are useful for developing therapeutic drugs against human degenerative diseases, particularly through a mechanism to induce CD34-positive stem cell expansion and/or regeneration.

Use of microRNA precursors as drugs for inducing CD34-positive adult stem cell expansion

Eukaryotic protein-coding messenger RNAs and non-coding microRNAs are naturally transcribed by type II RNA polymerases (pol-2) but not prokaryotic RNA polymerases. As a result, current eukaryotic RNA and protein production is performed either using eukaryotic pol-2 promoters in hybridomas or mammalian cells or using prokaryotic promoters in bacterial cells. However, because prokaryotic RNA transcription tends to be error-prone, frequent mutation is a big problem. Also, growing hybridomas or mammalian cells is relatively laborious and costly. To overcome these problems, the present invention provides a novel inducible composition and method for producing eukaryotic RNAs and/or their related peptides/proteins directly using eukaryotic pol-2 promoter-driven gene expression in fast growing bacteria, without the need of changing to prokaryotic promoters or growing hybridomas/mammalian cells. The RNAs and peptides/proteins so obtained can be used to develop drugs, cure diseases, treat tumors/cancers, produce pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, enhance wound healing, and make foods.

Inducible gene expression composition for using eukaryotic pol-2 promoter-driven transcription in prokaryotes and the applications thereof

This invention generally relates to a method for developing, generating and selecting human embryonic stem (hES)-like pluripotent cells using transgenic expression of intronic microRNA-like RNA agents. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and composition for generating a non-naturally occurring intron and its intronic components capable of being processed into mir-302-like RNA molecules in mammalian cells and thus inducing certain specific gene silencing effects on differentiation-related and fate-determinant genes of the cells, resulting in reprogramming the cells into a pluripotent embryonic stem (ES)-cell-like state. The ES-like cells so obtained are strongly express hES cell markers, such as Oct3/4, SSEA-3 and SSEA-4, and can be guided into various tissue cell types by treating certain hormones and/or growth factors under a feeder-free cell culture condition in vitro, which may be used for transplantation and gene therapies. Therefore, the present invention offers a simple, effective and safe gene manipulation approach for not only reprogramming somatic cells into ES-like pluripotent cells but also facilitating the maintenance of pluripotent and renewal properties of ES cells under a feeder-free cell culture condition, preventing the tedious retroviral insertion of four large transcription factor genes into one single cell as used in the previous iPS methods.

Generation of human embryonic stem-like cells using intronic RNA

The present invention relates to a method and composition for generating a non-naturally occurring intron and its components capable of being processed into small hairpin RNA (shRNA) and/or microRNA (miRNA) molecules by skin cells and thus inducing specific gene silencing effects on skin pigment-related genes and/or aging-causing genes in the cells. The gene silencing effects so obtained are not only useful for lightening and whitening skin colors but also useful for suppressing unwanted aging gene activities in skins.

Cosmetic designs and products using intronic RNA

This invention generally relates to a design and method for developing novel anti-tumor and/or anti-cancer drugs, vaccines and therapies, using microRNA and/or its shRNA homologs/mimics/derivatives. More specifically, the present invention relates to an use of a prokaryote-produced miRNA precursor (pro-miRNA) composition capable of being delivered into human cells and processed by the cells into mature miRNA effectors to elicit specific silencing effects on mir-302-targeted genes, subsequently leading to a beneficial result of tumor suppression and cancer therapy. The prokaryotic cells do not naturally express or process eukaryotic miRNA precursors (pre-miRNA); meanwhile, the present invention also teaches an inducible method for expressing pre-miRNAs, particularly mir-302 precursors by using the prokaryotic transcription system. Since mir-302 is a known tumor suppressor in human, this novel finding advances the design and method for developing new anti-cancer drugs, vaccines and/or therapies directed against multiple kinds of human tumors and cancers.

Production and utilization of a novel anti-cancer drug in therapy

This invention generally relates to a composition for developing novel anti-cancer drugs and/or vaccines and producing microRNA precursor (pre-miRNA) and/or its shRNA homologs/mimics/derivatives, and a method thereof. The present invention also relates to a use of a composition in producing novel prokaryote-produced microRNA precursor (pro-miRNA) capable of being delivered into human cells and processed by the cells into microRNA-like effectors to elicit specific silencing effects on certain targeted oncogenes, subsequently leading to a therapeutic result of tumor suppression and cancer therapy. Specifically, the method of the present invention includes inducing an expression of the pre-miRNA/pro-miRNAs, particularly human pre-miR-302, in prokaryotes through pol-2 or pol-2-like RNA promoter. Most importantly, the composition of the present invention is further a novel pre-miRNA-based drug that is capable of reprogramming the malignant properties of high-grade human liver cancers into a low-grade benign or even relatively normal stage&#x2014;a mechanism called 'Cancer Reversion'.

Production and extraction of MicroRNA precursor as drug for cancer therapy

This invention generally relates to a design and method for developing novel anti-tumor/cancer drugs, vaccines and therapies, using microRNA (miRNA) and its shRNA homologues/derivatives. More particularly, the present invention relates to the use of a nucleic acid composition capable of expressing mir-302-like gene silencing effectors upon delivery into human cells and then silencing mir-302-targeted cell cycle regulators and oncogenes, resulting in an inhibitory effect on tumor/cancer cell growth and metastasis. Mir-302 is the most predominant miRNA found in human embryonic stem (hES) and induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, yet its function is unclear. The present invention establishes that in humans mir-302 concurrently suppressed both cyclin-E-CDK2 and cyclin-D-CDK4/6 pathways and eventually blocked over 70% of the G1-S transition. Simultaneously, mir-302 also silences BMI-1, a cancer stem cell marker, and subsequently promotes the tumor suppressor functions of p16Ink4a and p14/p19Arf in inhibiting CDK4/6-mediated cell proliferation. Therefore, the present invention for the first time reveals the tumor suppressor function of mir-302 in humans. This novel finding advances the design and method for developing new cancer drugs, vaccines and therapies directed against multiple kinds of human tumors and cancers, in particular including, but not limited, malignant skin, prostate, breast and liver cancers as well as various tumors.

Growing community of inventors

Arcadia, CA, United States of America

Shi-Lung Lin