The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 11, 2000
Filed:
Jan. 20, 1999
Michel F Levesque, Beverly Hills, CA (US);
Toomas Neuman, Santa Monica, CA (US);
Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA (US);
Abstract
The present invention is directed to method of converting, or transdifferentiating the epidermal cells into viable neurons useful in both cell therapy and gene therapy treatment methodologies. The method of transdifferentiating epidermal cells into neuronal cells comprises the following steps: obtaining skin cells from a patient; dedifferentiating these cells with an appropriate medium, neurotrophin or cytokine; transfecting the skin cells with one or more expression vector(s) encoding at least one neurogenic transcription factor or active fragments thereof; expressing at least one of the neurogenic transcription factors; growing the transfected cells in an appropriate medium; and adding to the medium one or more antisense oligonucleotide(s) corresponding to at least one negative regulator of neuronal differentiation, whereby the epidermal cells are transdifferentiated into neuronal cells.