Patent ID: 7816088

Claim:
A method of selecting for human leukemia stem cells (LSC), the method comprising: combining reagents that specifically recognize Thy-1, IL-7Rα (CD127), a lineage panel that distinguishes progenitor cells from lineage committed cells, and one or more reagents selected from a reagent that specifically recognizes IL3Rα, a reagent that specifically recognizes CD45RA, a reagent that specifically recognizes CD47 and a reagent that specifically recognizes Flk2 with a blood sample from a human leukemia patient; and selecting for cells that are Thy-1 − , IL-7Rα, (CD127) − , lineage panel − , and one or more of IL-3Rα + , CD45RA + , CD47 + and Flk2 + , to provide a population of leukemia stem cells having self-renewal capacity.