Transdifferentiation of epidermal basal cells into neural progenitor cells, neuronal cells and/or glial cells

Patent Number: 6949380

This invention is similar to patent 7041507, which was filed by the same inventors. The current invention teaches generation of neuronal-like cells through the transdifferentiation of epidermal basal cells. The invention has 3 independent claims covering, "An in vitro method of transdifferentiating an epidermal basal cell ", "A kit for transdifferentiating, in vitro, an epidermal basal cell" and "An in vitro method of transdifferentiating an epidermal basal cell into a cell having one or more morphological, physiological and/or immunological feature(s) of a neuronal cell". The method of inducing this transdifferentiation involves the steps of growing a population of proliferating epidermal basal cells in the presence of an inhibitor of the BMP pathway (fetuin, noggin, chordin gremlin or follistatin), inhibiting MSX-1 and/or HES-1 gene expression, and further culturing the cells in medium comprising a retinoid compound and a signal molecule selected from the group consisting of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), nerve growth factor (NGF), sonic hedgehog, sonic hedgehog aminoterminal peptide, neurotrophin (NT)-3, and neurotrophin (NT)-4.

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