Principal Investigators:
E. Lynette Wilson, Ph.D., Dept. of Cell Biology, New York University School of Medicine
Janice Gabrilove, M.D., Dept. of Hematology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

Bone marrow transplantation is an increasingly common form of therapy for dysfunction of hemopoietic cells (e.g., aplastic anemia) and to counteract the harmful effects of treatments such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy, which irreversibly damage hemopoietic cells. Growing applications of cell and gene therapy also utilize hemopoietic cells and bone marrow as a therapeutic cell source. Infection is often a major cause of treatment related deaths in cancer patients, particularly during and after the three week period required for transplanted bone marrow to successfully engraft and begin hemopoietic reconstruction. Evidence suggests that the efficacy of transplantation may be linked to the stem cell content of the donated bone marrow. Factors which enable or accelerate in vitro proliferation of stem cells will have significant impact on gene therapy protocols and bone marrow transplant applications.

Description of the Project:
Dr. Wilson and Dr. Gabrilove have demonstrated that fibroblast growth factors may be used in vitro to stimulate the production of large numbers of bone marrow stromal cells which can be used as feeder cells for generating hemopoietic progenitor cells in bone marrow cultures. Fibroblast growth factors also increases the number of hemopoietic progenitor cells in long-term bone marrow cultures by as much as 200 fold and it also acts in concert with other cytokines to stimulate growth of highly purified progenitor cells. This research has considerable commercial potential.

Applications:
Use of fibroblast growth factors include: (i) Hemopoietic cell cultures for bone marrow transplantation, (ii) Acceleration of bone marrow engraftment and progenitor cell proliferation in bone marrow recipients, and (iii) Stimulation of endogenous cytokines in subjects with aplastic conditions.

Patent Status:
Patent applications covering this technology have been filed in the United States and Europe.

For further information please contact:
Jane V. Scott, Ph.D.
jane.scott@med.nyu.edu
New York University
Office of Industrial Liaison
650 First Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10016
Tel: (212)263-8178 Fax: (212)263-8189