Differentiation of specialized dermal and epidermal cells into neuronal cells

Patent Number: 7,361,506

This patent covers ways of manufacturing cells that express dopaminergic neurons for implantation.  Obviously one of the uses for these cells is treatment of Parkinson's. 

While others have generated dopaminergic neurons from sources such as subventricular zone precursors, olfactory epithelium, and embryonic stem cells, this patent teaches how to make such neurons from skin cells.

Specifically, the patent covers manufacturing of cells form implantation by:

- Taking skin cells that have a minimum cellular component (400 cells per millimeter square) and of the cellular component the cells must also express melanocytes.

- Culturing the cells so as to increase the concentration of melanocytes in the preparation.

- Implanting the melanocytes into an environment that induces dedifferentiation of the melanocytes into tyrosine hydroxylase expressing cells.

The above description sounds relatively simple to perform.  In the examples section the inventors demonstrate that intracranial administration of melanocytes into the substantia nigra of 6-OHDA-injured rats results in functional improvement.  It appears that the invention simply is teaching that administration of the melanocytes into injured tissue can cause this transdifferentiation, or dedifferentiation followed by redifferentiation into therapeutically useful cells.

This patent is interesting because besides the examples demonstrating some functional benefit, the patent has numerous prophetic examples that are interesting to read.  One should look to see if the prophetic examples were filed first and the examiner asked for real experiments, or if it was the other way around.

View this patent on the USPTO website.