Clusterin-mediated inhibition of apoptosis via stromal bone marrow cell delivery to a cardiac site

Patent Number: 7,524,490

Many diseases are associated with either too much apoptosis (eg ALS, Parkinson's, Liver failure, etc) or too little apoptosis (cancer).  The current patent covers a method to suppress apoptosis in mammalian cells.

The method consists of transfecting an isolated population bone marrow derived stromal cells (either autologous or allogeneic) with a nucleic acid encoding the clusterin protein, or encoding a truncated clusterin protein (clusterin is involved in clearance of apoptotis bodies) lacking the transmembrane domain, operably linked to a promoter and capable of being expressed in the resulting transfected stromal cells, wherein the stromal cells comprise bone marrow stem cells; in vivo, transplanting the transfected stromal cells into cardiac tissue of a mammal by direct delivery of the cells to a cardiac site where expression of clusterin is desired; and expressing said clusterin encoded by said nucleic acid in an amount sufficient to inhibit apoptosis in said transfected cells and/or adjacent cells.

Although the use of stem cell therapy has been reported by many others for use in heart failure, the current patent is new because they cover the use of gene transfected stem cells for suppressing the large amount of apoptosis theat is occuring as a result of stretch or an old infarct.

View this patent on the USPTO website.