Patent ID: 7153686

Claim:
A composition comprising: (a) a population of neural cells enriched for neurosphere initiating stem cells (NS-IC) produced by: (1) combining a population comprising neural cells or neural-derived cells containing a fraction of NS-ICs with monoclonal antibody AC133 or monoclonal antibody 5E12 (ATCC Accession No. PTA-994); and (2) selecting and isolating those cells that bind to monoclonal antibody AC133 or monoclonal antibody 5E12, thereby producing a population of cells enriched for NS-IC as compared with the population of neural cells or neural-derived cells; and (b) at least one monoclonal antibody selected from the group consisting of monoclonal antibody AC133 and monoclonal antibody 5E12, wherein the at least one monoclonal antibody is conjugated with a label to allow for ease of separation.