Method of detecting hematopoietic progenitor cells

Patent Number: RE39,006

This patent appears to cover a new method of detecting hematopoietic stem cells, without needing to use stem cell-specific markers. The patent seems to use some light and physical properties of the cells to distinguish between stem cells and non-stem cells. The patent has one issued claim which is:

"A method for detecting or counting or both detecting and counting hematopoietic progenitor cells, which comprises the steps following: treating a blood sample with a reagent which detects immature cells without employing any immunological techniques; obtaining cell information about said treated blood sample using a particle analyzer and constructing a cell distribution profile; delineating a portion of said profile as a zone in which at least one subclass of hematopoietic progenitor cells appear; wherein said profile zone is delineated through the use of a control sample comprising hematopoietic progenitor cells; and counting the cells within said zone. "

View this patent on the USPTO website.