The present disclosure provides compositions and methods of using gene therapy to create induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) without inducing cancer or tumorigenesis. The methods disclosed herein employ plasmids and vectors that contain transcription factors and an anti-oncogene such as PCBP1 which inhibits the expression of cancer biomarkers and concomitant oncogenesis.

In related-art methods of differentiating pluripotent stem cells into a desired cell type, there has not been established a differentiation induction method using human ES/iPS cells and being stable and highly efficient. The use of complicated culture steps is a large problem. In addition, there are also large problems in, for example, that the speed of cell differentiation is low, and hence long-period culture is required, and that the differentiation efficiency is low, and hence it is difficult to obtain a sufficient number of required cells. A method of inducing differentiation into a desired cell type, which induces differentiation within a short period of time and with high efficiency by the use of a Sendai virus vector capable of expressing a transcription factor, and as required, the use of a pluripotent stem cell in which an expression amount of a POU5F1 protein has been substantially removed or reduced, is provided.

Provided are methods and compositions from reprogramming human glial cells into human neurons. The reprogramming is achieved using combinations of compounds that can modify signaling via Transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β), Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP), glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK-3), and γ-secretase/Notch pathways. The reprogramming is demonstrated using groups of three or four compounds that are chosen from the group thiazovivin, LDN193189, SB431542, TTNPB, CHIR99021, DAPT, VPA, SAG; purmorphamine. Reprogramming is demonstrated using the group of LDN193189/CHIR99021/DAPT, the group of B431542/CHIR99021/DAPT, the group of LDN193189/DAPT/SB431542, the group of LDN193189/CHIR99021/SB431542, a three drug combination of SB431542/CHIR99021/DAPT. Reprogramming using functional analogs of the compounds is also provided, as are pharmaceutical formulations that contain the drug combinations.

The invention relates to induced pluripotent stem cells that are generated from cells, for example Adult Stem Cells, that are conditionally-immortalisable. In particular, the invention relates to induced pluripotent stem cells generated from stem cell lines comprising a controllable transgene for conditional immortalisation, and the progeny of those induced pluripotent stem cells. Induced pluripotent stem cells, progeny cells derived from those pluripotent cells, compositions comprising those cells, methods of making all of those cells, and uses of all of those cells are also described.

The present invention provides a method for producing parasympathetic neurons from neural crest cells or autonomic neural progenitor cells derived therefrom, comprising a step of culturing the neural crest cells or autonomic neural progenitor cells derived therefrom in the presence of a cAMP production promoter, a BDNF signaling pathway activator, a GDNF signaling pathway activator, an NGF signaling pathway activator, an NT-3 signaling pathway activator, vitamin C, a protein kinase C activator, and a retinoic acid receptor agonist.

This invention relates to an in vitro system for the culture of cerebellar granule cell precursors (granule cell progenitors, GCP) comprising a culture support, mammalian GCP cells and a culture medium comprising at least SAG (Smoothened agonist) and EGF (Epidermal Growth Factor), and a method for the in vitro culture of GCP cells, use of the above-mentioned culture system or method of culture for the generation of in vitro models for study of the pathophysiology of cerebellar granules or use of the above-mentioned culture system or method of culture for use in gene therapy and cell therapy approaches to cerebellar diseases caused by damage or neurodegeneration.

The method disclosed herein is for evaluating the quality of a transplant neural retina by sampling a part or the whole of a cell aggregate containing a neural retina having an epithelial structure derived from a pluripotent stem cell as a sample for quality evaluation.

The present application relates to a method of treating a subject having a condition mediated by a deficiency in myelin. This method involves selecting a subject having a condition mediated by a deficiency in myelin and expressing a transcription factor 7-like 2 (TCF7L2) protein in the selected subject under conditions effective to treat the condition. Also disclosed is a method of increasing oligodendrocyte production from glial progenitor cells. This method involves providing a population of glial progenitor cells and expressing a TCF7L2 protein in the provided population of glial progenitor cells under conditions effective to increase oligodendrocyte production compared to oligodendrocyte production absent said administering. Also disclosed is a genetic construct suitable, inter alia, for carrying out these methods.

The invention provides a method of producing a population of human Schwann cells. The method comprises (a) incubating human fascicles with one or more mitogens for a priming period of three to fourteen days to produce primed fascicles, (b) incubating the primed fascicles with one or more tissue dissociation enzymes to produce primed Schwann cells, (c) culturing the primed Schwann cells at an initial Po density for a period of time to achieve no greater than 90% confluence, (d) expanding the population of Schwann cells by culturing the Schwann cells at an initial passage density for a period of time to achieve no greater than 90% confluence for at least two passages, and harvesting the population of human Schwann cells. The invention further provides an isolated population of Schwann cells obtained by the method described herein. In various aspects of the invention, the isolated population is provided in a composition.

The present invention relates to a method for efficiently differentiating neural stem cells into astrocytes and, more particularly, to a cell conversion-based method for more efficiently differentiating human neural stem cells into astrocytes that exhibit immune response suppression ability within a short period of time. Unlike a conventional method, the method for differentiating neural stem cells into astrocytes by using a differentiation medium containing a combination of several cytokines, according to the present invention, involves a shortened differentiation time and has excellent differentiation efficiency, and the differentiated astrocytes exhibit immune response suppression ability, and thus can be useful as an agent for treating various brain diseases such as degenerative neurological diseases.