Patent ID: 8222207

Claim:
A method for enhancing the mobilization of hematopoietic stem cells from bone marrow to peripheral blood, comprising: a) administering to a subject in need thereof an effective amount of a TAT-HOXB4H protein having the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:4, wherein the protein increases the absolute number of hematopoietic stem cells in the bone marrow of the subject and is produced by a method comprising: (1) providing an isolated host cell comprising a vector encoding the protein; (2) expressing the protein in the host cell; (3) collecting an impure solution of the expressed protein; (4) purifying the protein from the impure solution by: (i) applying the impure solution to a chromatography column for purifying histidine-tagged proteins; (ii) washing the chromatography column for purifying histidine-tagged proteins with a washing buffer; (iii) eluting the protein from the chromatography column for purifying histidine-tagged proteins with an eluting buffer to form a partially purified protein solution; (iv) applying the partially purified protein solution to a cation ion exchange chromatography column; (v) washing the cation ion exchange chromatography column with a washing buffer; (vi) eluting the purified protein from the cation ion exchange chromatography column in denatured form with an eluting buffer; and (5) refolding the eluted denatured protein using hydrophobic compounds by: (i) combining the eluted denatured protein and a solution of hydrophobic compounds to form a solution of the protein and hydrophobic compounds; (ii) desalting the solution of the protein and hydrophobic compounds to obtain a desalted protein and hydrophobic compound solution; (iii) removing the hydrophobic compounds from the desalted protein and hydrophobic compound solution using ultrafiltration by a centrifugal filter tube or a stir-cell; and (6) storing the purified protein in Dulbecco's modified eagle medium (DMEM); and b) allowing the TAT-HOXB4H protein to increase the absolute number of hematopoietic stem cells in the bone marrow of the subject thereby enhancing the mobilization of hematopoietic stem cells to the peripheral blood of the subject, wherein the subject has a solid tumor.