Hemoglobin alpha chain peptide fragments useful for inhibiting stem cell proliferation

Patent Number: 6858583

Hematopoietic stem cells are sensitive to chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Accordingly, hematopoietic stem cells are one of the first cell types to be negatively affected by cancer therapy.

One of the reasons that hematopoietic stem cells are destroyed is due to the fact that at some level, they are proliferating constantly. Now, the early primitive hematopoietic stem cells usually are in a quiescent state, partially because of autocrine TGF-b, but the more differentiated progenitors are actually proliferating at a pretty constant rate.

This patent discloses inhibitors of stem cell proliferation which may be administered so that the stem cells do not proliferate as much and thus are resistant to the chemotherapy.

One interesting point about this patent is that it teaches the stem cell inhibitor is found naturally from the bone marrow. This patent reminds one of the compound Reptimed discovered by MarrowTech Pharma from Canada, which also had the ability to inhibit stem cell proliferation. Interestingly, Reptimed was isolated using similar methods.

Since Reptimed had anticancer activities, it may be interesting to assess anticancer activities of the compositions disclosed in this patent.

View this patent on the USPTO website.