Method of suppressing differentiation by administering a human serrate-1 polypeptide

Patent Number: 7,179,622

This patent covers composition of matter and use for polypeptides derived from Notch agonists. The particular Notch agonist is Serrate, which is involved in maintaining an undifferentiated state in stem cells.

The invention is useful for expanding hematopoietic stem cells without inducing their differentiation.

The inventors provided some evidence of CD34 self renewal without differentiation when treatment the HSC with the claimed polypeptide. This is an interesting patent since some believe that the reason HSC grow well on mesenchymal cells is because mesenchymal cells also express various Notch ligands.

View this patent on the USPTO website.