61 results about "Cholangiocyte" patented technology

The invention features methods for increasing or maintaining the number of functional cells of a predetermined type, for example, insulin producing cells of the pancreas, blood cells, spleen cells, brain cells, heart cells, vascular tissue cells, cells of the bile duct, or skin cells, in a mammal (e.g., a human patient) that has injured or damaged cells of the predetermined type.

A method of propagating mammalian endodermally derived progenitors such as hepatic progenitors, their progeny, or mixtures thereof is developed which includes culturing mammalian progenitors, their progeny, or mixtures thereof on a layer of embryonic mammalian feeder cells in a culture medium. The culture medium can be supplemented with one or more hormones and other growth agents. These hormones and other growth agents can include insulin, dexamethasone, transferrin, nicotinamide, serum albumin, β-mercaptoethanol, free fatty acid, glutamine, CuSO4, and H2SeO3. The culture medium can also include antibiotics. Importantly, the culture medium does not include serum.The invention includes means of inducing the differentiation of the progenitors to their adult fates such as the differentiation of hepatic progenitor cells to hepatocytes or biliary cells by adding, or excluding epidermal growth factor, respectively.The method of producing mammalian progenitors is useful in that the progenitors can be used subsequently in one or more of the following processes: identification of growth and differentiation factors, toxicological studies, drug development, antimicrobial studies, or the preparation of an extracorporeal organ such as a bioartificial liver.

As discussed in greater detail herein, isolated epitope peptides derived from MPHOSPH1 bind to an HLA antigen and induce cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) and thus are suitable for use in the context of cancer immunotherapy, more particularly cancer vaccines. The inventive peptides encompass both the above-mentioned MPHOSPH1-derived amino acid sequences and modified versions thereof, in which one, two, or several amino acids are substituted, deleted, inserted or added, provided such modified versions retain the requisite CTL inducibility of the original sequences. Further provided are polynucleotides encoding any of the aforementioned peptides as well as pharmaceutical agents or compositions that include any of the aforementioned peptides or polynucleotides. The peptides, polynucleotides, and pharmaceutical agents or compositions of this invention find particular utility in either or both of the treatment and prevention of cancers and tumors, including, for example, bladder cancer, breast cancer, cervical cancer, cholangiocellular carcinoma, CML, colorectal cancer, gastric cancer, NSCLC, lymphoma, osteosarcoma, prostate cancer, renal cancer and soft tissue tumor.

The present invention relates to a multipotent stem cell, multipotent cell populations, and an enriched multipotent cell population, each found in fetal, neonatal, pediatric, and adult biliary tree tissue and up to 72 hours post mortem (although preferentially, within 10 hours post mortem) and capable of maturing into multiple endodermal tissues that include liver, biliary and pancreatic tissues. The multipotent stem / progenitor cell and cell populations are found in peribiliary glands, and progenitors descending from them are present throughout the biliary tree including in the gallbladder. High numbers of the peribiliary glands are found in the branching locations of the biliary tree such as hilum, common hepatic duct, cystic duct, common duct, common hepato-pancreatic duct and gallbladder. Related multipotent cells, multipotent cell populations and their descendent progenitors are found throughout the biliary tree including in the gall bladder, which does not have peribiliary glands. Compositions comprising same, methods of identifying and isolating same, maintaining same in culture, expanding same in culture and differentiating or lineage restricting the same in vitro or in vivo to hepatic, biliary or pancreatic fates (e.g., as hepatocytes, cholangiocytes, and / or pancreatic islet cells) are also provided. Methods of using the multipotent cells and / or multipotent cell populations are also provided.

Isolated peptides derived from SEQ ID NO: 21 and fragments thereof that bind to an HLA antigen and induce cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) and thus are suitable for use in the context of cancer immunotherapy, more particularly cancer vaccines, are described herein. The inventive peptides encompass both the above mentioned amino acid sequences and modified versions thereof, in which one, two, or several amino acids are substituted, deleted, inserted or added, provided such modified versions retain the requisite HLA binding and / or CTL inducibility of the original sequences. Further provided are nucleic acids encoding any of the aforementioned peptides as well as pharmaceutical agents, substances and / or compositions that include or incorporate any of the aforementioned peptides or nucleic acids. The peptides, nucleic acids, pharmaceutical agents, substances and compositions of this invention find particular utility in the treatment of cancers and tumors, including, for example, AML, bladder cancer, breast cancer, cervical cancer, cholangiocellular carcinoma, CML, colorectal cancer, esophagus cancer, gastric cancer, gastric diffuse-type cancer, lung cancer, lymphoma, prostate cancer, SCLC and soft tissue tumor.

The present invention relates to a method for diagnosis of bile duct cancer, using methionyl-tRNA synthetase (MRS) in bile duct cells and, more particularly, to a composition for diagnosing bile ductcancer, comprising an agent with which an expression level of methionyl-tRNA synthetase protein is measured, a diagnostic kit, and a method for qualitative or quantitative analysis of MRS to provide information necessary for the diagnosis of bile duct cancer. According to the present invention, MRS retains a very high value as a diagnostic marker for bile duct cancer in terms of rapidity and accuracy because MRS allows determination to be made to see whether bile duct cancer is present or absent for bile duct cells, which have been classified as atypical cells by conventional pathological examination methods. Hence, the present invention provides a method for discriminating between cancer cells and normal cells in atypical cells and can make a definite diagnosis of cancer with almost 100 %in all of sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy in contrast to many conventional cancer markers with which an actual result of diagnosis is substantially difficult to obtain at a cell level (that is, cytodiagnosis).

This application describes liver stem cells (LSC), and differentiated hepatocytes, cholangiocytes, and 3D cellular structures derived therefrom. Methods for producing LSC and mature, differentiated hepatocytes and cholangiocytes in culture are provided. Also provided are cell culture systems and cell culture media for producing a homogenous population of liver stem cells that remain in an undifferentiated state over multiple passages in culture. The LSC and methods are useful for producing homogenous populations of hepatocytes and cholangiocytes for downstream applications. The LSC can be transplanted into subjects to treat liver diseases.