Patent ID: 8012696

Claim:
A method for isolating a population of mammalian chondrocytes, the method comprising the steps of: a) providing a cell suspension comprising chondrocytes, b) contacting the cell suspension with a monoclonal antibody or a fragment thereof capable of binding specifically to the extracellular I-domain of the integrin alpha10 chain, under conditions wherein said monoclonal antibody or fragment thereof forms an antibody-antigen complex with the extracellular I-domain of integrin alpha10beta1, wherein said monoclonal antibody is antibody 365 produced by a hybridoma cell line deposited at the Deutsche Sammlung von Microorganismen und Zellkulturen GmbH under the accession number DSM ACC2583, c) separating cells binding to the monoclonal antibody or fragment thereof in b), wherein separation is achieved mechanically via a solid support bound directly or indirectly to the monoclonal antibody or fragment thereof, or by cell sorting via a label bound directly or indirectly to the monoclonal antibody or fragment thereof, and optionally d) recovering cells binding to the monoclonal antibody or fragment thereof in c) from said antibody or fragment thereof, thereby producing a population of chondrocytes, optionally free from said antibody or fragment thereof.