Patent Application: US-201213399750-A

Abstract:
methods described include methods of treating t1dm , the method comprising delivering a therapeutic amount of β - msc to a subject in need thereof . further disclosed are fusion cells comprising and msc and a second cell wherein the nuclei of the msc and the second cell are not fused in the fusion cell .

Description:
protocol for isolation and fusion of pβc with msc : generation of β - msc isolation of islets from male mouse pancreata was performed as follows : mouse pancreata were treated with collagenase xi ; the resulting cells were separated from debris via a ficoll gradient ; live cells were hand picked and plated . cells were later stained to confirm presence of pβc . pβc were isolated from the islet cell culture via exposing the above cultures to trypsin - edta for 3 minutes and removing the cells that were no longer adherent . syngeneic female msc ( immortal ) were grown from mouse bone marrow using techniques for msc isolation known in the art . determine the ratio of msc and pancreatic β cells ( pβc ) for optimal cellular fusion starting with a 1 : 1 ratio of co - cultured isogeneic msc and isolated pβc from mice ˜ 50 % of cells were fused pβc fused with msc ) as confirmed by the use of distinct vital dyes for each cell type , by fish for the “ y ” chromosome ( male - derived msc , female - derived pβc ), rt - pcr , westerns , and immunocytochemistry . in addition , ficoll gradient centrifugation and facs analysis corroborated the extent of cell fusion accomplished in co - culture . in additional studies , initial cell ratios in co - culture will be varied ( up and down ) in order to assess whether the extent of cell fusion can be further optimized . pβc and msc were co - cultured at ratios of 1 : 1 and 2 : 1 . fusion was induced by phytohemagglutinin and by changing the medium to polyethylene glycol ( 45 % w / v ) for 1 minute and then washing . cells were then cultured for 24 hours before being removed by treatment with trypsin - edta and replated . hybrid colonies were formed within 5 - 7 days . fig1 schematically shows the fusion of an msc ( staining for protein kinase d - 26 ( pkd - 26 ), a cell surface marker for mscs ) and a pβc ( staining for insulin ) into a β - msc hybrid cell ( staining for both pkd - 26 and insulin ). determine the ability of β - msc to physiologically release insulin in culture freshly fused β - msc that were not passaged in culture were isolated by facs or ficoll gradient centrifugation . β - msc express insulin by rt - pcr and elisa ( secretion into media ). glucose concentrations in serum free media were adjusted to 0 and gradually raised to 50 , 100 , 250 , 500 and 750 mg / dl ( 45 minutes at each concentration ). media concentrations of insulin and c - peptide were determined at the end of each 45 - minute period by sensitive elisa assays , showing a glucose level - dependent rise of both . cells adapted to 750 mg / dl of media glucose were then exposed to the reverse pattern of glucose concentrations in the media , showing a step wise fall in insulin and c - peptide levels . native msc do not secrete insulin or c - peptide , while pβc per se respond to changes in ambient glucose levels in a pattern identical to that of fused cells . fig2 depicts insulin release from β - msc treated with glucose containing medium . as can be seen therein , insulin production levels increase with the intensity of the glucose challenge . freshly fused β - msc were placed in standard culture flasks ( t25 ) with dmem / f12 media , 10 % fcs , incubated at ph 7 . 40 , 37 ° c ., with 5 % co 2 and room air . cells were passaged on day 3 when ˜ 75 % confluent . after ten passages , cells were analyzed for fusion status ( as in example 1 ), and for their ability to secrete insulin and c - peptide in response to changes in ambient glucose concentration ( as in example 2 ). ˜ 80 % of cells retained their phenotype ( fused ) and these cells exhibited physiological insulin and c - peptide secretion patterns analogous to those obtained in freshly fused , po cells . β - msc isolated as in example 2 where grown in culture medium containing 10 % fetal calf serum for 120 days under the conditions indicated above . as is shown in fig2 , β - msc underwent 45 doublings over then 120 period producing more than 10 14 cells . determine whether intraperitoneal administration of β - msc to diabetic mice improves glucose control six months old db / db mice develop hyperglycemia and show early systemic manifestations of dm ( proteinuria , hypertension , dyslipidemia ). three groups ( n = 6 ) of animals were studied : 1 ) controls , not given β - msc but 0 . 2 ml of pbs as vehicle ; 2 ) β - msc ( 1 . 5 × 10 5 ; syngeneic wild type ) infused in 0 . 2 ml pbs into the peritoneal cavity ; 3 ) native msc ( 1 . 5 × 10 5 ; syngeneic wild type ) infused in 0 . 2 ml pbs into the peritoneal cavity . animals were followed for four weeks . blood microsamples were assayed for glucose every other day , and serum insulin , c - peptide and glucose levels were determined once every seven days . we observed identical hyperglycemic levels ( 250 ± 50 mg / dl average ) in group 1 ) control and group 3 ) native msc groups , while group 2 ) β - msc animals had blood sugar levels between 85 ± 12 and 120 ± 15 mg / dl (± sd ). only group 2 ) animals gained weight and serum insulin and c - peptide levels showed a physiological correlation with blood sugar levels . a parallel experiment is depicted in fig4 . therein , blood glucose levels of diabetic mice treated via the peritoneal cavity with 10 6 β - msc ( white bars ) are compared with untreated animals ( black bars ) during challenge with a high glucose diet . as can be seen , both groups of animals show high blood glucose levels before β - msc treatment at day 5 . however , by day 10 , β - msc treated animals show a return to normal blood glucose levels while those of the control group remain high . increased mortality in the untreated groups was apparent by day 21 . p & lt ; 0 . 001 for the difference between treated and untreated groups at 10 , 14 , 21 , and 28 days . intraperitoneal glucose tolerance test of diabetic mice treated with β - msc shows normal glucose response a diabetic like state was induced in mice through the use of streptozotocin as is well known in the art . animals were then treated with administration of β - msc as described above and allowed to recover . after 21 days , animals were provided with an intraperitoneal glucose bolus and blood glucose levels were monitored every half hour . as is visible in fig5 , blood glucose levels returned to normal within 150 minutes which approximately corresponds to the glucose tolerance presented by normal animal . β - msc are prepared and isolated as provided in the above examples . the β - msc are then grown and expanded in culture until a desired population is obtained . a pharmaceutical composition comprising β - msc is then prepared by mixing β - msc with a pharmaceutically acceptable excipient . a pharmaceutical composition comprising 10 6 β - msc in 0 . 2 ml pbs is prepared and may be frozen prior to administration . β - msc are thus used in the manufacture of a medicament to treat diabetes mellitus treatment of diabetes mellitus in a human subject via administration of β - msc human subjects having diabetes mellitus are administered a therapeutically effective amount of a pharmaceutical composition comprising β - msc . in a first subject , β - msc are administered into the portal vein with a catheter . in a second subject , β - msc are placed into a porous , plastic capsule and the capsule is surgically placed into the anterior abdominal wall , only covered by the peritoneum . 21 days after implantation , both subjects respond normally to a glucose tolerance test . blood c - peptide , insulin , and glucose levels are monitored top assess functionality of β - msc cells over time . subjects are effectively treated for diabetes mellitus . human subjects are administered β - msc and thereafter show a reduction in glucose tolerance over a period of time . blood c - peptide , insulin , and glucose levels are shifted to state more indicative of active diabetes mellitus . additional β - msc are administered as in example 8 . 21 days after implantation , subjects respond normally to a glucose tolerance test . blood c - peptide , insulin , and glucose levels are monitored top assess functionality of β - msc cells over time . subjects are effectively treated for diabetes mellitus . the foregoing examples are directly relevant to subjects with diabetes mellitus , as they demonstrate that effective cell fusion between msc and pancreatic β cells can be achieved in vitro . the resulting β - msc secrete insulin in response to changes in ambient glucose concentration and proliferate while maintaining their phenotype and islet cell - like function . because of the immunomodulating capacity of msc , which is maintained after fusion with β cells , their survival in a recipient should be prolonged since immune injury is negligible , and since msc secrete cytoprotective and vasculo - supportive cytokines ( hgf , igf - i , vegf ). when β - msc are administered to mice with dm , blood glucose control improves in correlation with reestablished endogenous insulin production . all references , including publications , patents , and patent applications , cited herein are hereby incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each reference were individually and specifically indicated to be incorporated by reference and were set forth in its entirety herein . although the invention herein has been described in connection with preferred embodiments thereof , it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that addition , modifications , substitutions , and deletions not specifically described may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims , and all embodiments that come within the meaning of the claims , either literally or by equivalence , are intended to be embraced therein . 1a . islam m q et al . : functional characterization of cell hybrids generated by induced cell fusion or primary porcine mesenchymal stem cells with an immortalized murine cell line . cell tissue res 326 : 123 - 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