Method for transplantation of hemopoietic stem cells

Patent Number: 6383481

This patent teaches that intraportal administration of bone marrow subsequent to myeloablation can be used as a therapy for the treatment of autoimmune disease.

This approach may be useful since it "reprograms" the immune system, allowing for it to come back into homeostasis.

The problem with this is that several severe toxicities are usually associated with transplantation of bone marrow following myeloablation.

One interesting question is whether the intraportal administration of the bone marrow actually induces donor-specific tolerance....what if you did intraportal administration of cord blood?

View this patent on the USPTO website.