Patent ID: 7651855

Claim:
A method for producing therapeutic human T regulatory cells (Treg cells), said method comprising: selecting a sample of human CD4 + T cells; contacting said sample with an anti-CD25 antibody; isolating cells that bind to said anti-CD25 antibody from said sample using a double column magnetic antibody cell sorting (MACS) purification procedure, to produce an isolated population of human CD4+CD25 + Treg cells; culture-expanding said population of human CD4+CD25 + Treg cells comprising contacting said isolated population of human CD4+CD25 + Treg cells with immobilized anti-CD3 antibody and immobilized anti-CD28 antibody, further culture-expanding said isolated population of human CD4+CD25 + Treg cells in the presence of an irradiated CD4 + feeder cell or the irradiated CD4 + feeder cell conditioned medium, thereby producing culture-expanded therapeutic human Treg cells, wherein said culture-expanded Treg cells are CD62L+/CD27 + and are capable of inhibiting proliferation of CD4+CD25− responding T cells in a Mixed Lymphocyte Reaction (MLR) assay by at least 90%.