The present disclosure provides soluble mutant PD-L1 peptides, polynucleotides and vectors encoding the peptides, and methods of using the peptides to elicit differentiation of regulatory T cells.

The high-potential pluripotent stem cells of the present invention not only have characteristics of conventional Muse cells, namely, are capable of differentiating into any embryonic tissue serving as all cells constituting the body, but also are capable of differentiating into any extraembryonic tissue cells such as placenta and/or germline cells, namely, have differentiation capacities close to totipotency. Thus, the high-potential pluripotent stem cells not only allow for conventional regenerative therapies of various diseases which cause any damage in constitution of the body, but also are capable of differentiating into any extraembryonic tissue cells such as placenta, and thus can allow any damaged sites in such any extraembryonic tissue to be re-constituted, resulting in improvement or restoring of the function of such any damaged sites, and can be applied to a new field of regenerative therapy, for example, can be used in reproductive therapies such as fertility therapy.

The present invention is provides a method for treating human pluripotent cells. In particular, the methods of the invention are directed to the treatment of human pluripotent cells, whereby the human pluripotent cells can be efficiently expanded in culture and differentiated by treating the pluripotent cells with an inhibitor of glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK-3B) enzyme activity.

The present invention relates to interleukin-4 receptor-binding fusion proteins. More specifically, the invention provides, in part, fusion proteins that include an interleukin-4 or interleukin-13 protein moiety joined to an anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 family member protein moiety.

The present invention relates to the in vitro production of erythrocytes/granulocytes and to the treatment of myelodysplastic syndrome using a method for inducing hemoblast differentiation. The present invention provides a media composition comprising gelsolin as an active ingredient for inducing the differentiation of hematopoietic precursor cells into erythrocytes/granulocytes, and a pharmaceutical composition comprising gelsolin as an active ingredient for treating myelodysplastic syndrome. Since the composition of the present invention improves the efficiency of differentiation of hematopoietic precursor cells into erythrocytes/granulocytes while maintaining a low rate of occurrence of cell dysplasia and having the effect of improving the enucleation rate and cell survivability, the present invention can be effectively used for producing erythrocytes/granulocytes in vitro and for treating myelodysplastic syndrome.

Disclosed are methods for conditionally immortalizing stem cells, including adult and embryonic stem cells, the cells produced by such methods, therapeutic and laboratory or research methods of using such cells, and methods to identify compounds related to cell differentiation and development or to treat diseases, using such cells. A mouse model of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and cells and methods related to such mouse model are also described.

The present invention relates to compositions and methods for generating a modified T cell with a nucleic acid capable of downregulating endogenous gene expression selected from the group consisting of TCR α chain, TCR β chain, beta-2 microglobulin and FAS further comprising a nucleic acid encoding a modified T cell receptor (TCR) comprising affinity for a surface antigen on a target cell or an electroporated nucleic acid encoding a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR). Also included are methods and pharmaceutical compositions comprising the modified T cell for adoptive therapy and treating a condition, such as an autoimmune disease.

The present invention relates to interleukin-4 receptor binding fusion proteins. More specifically, the invention provides, in part, fusion proteins that include an interleukin-4 receptor binding protein moiety joined to a pro-apoptotic Bcl-2 family member protein moiety.

The invention relates to the discovery that the proliferation and survival of pancreatic progenitor cells can be enhanced by contacting the cells with, (1) a caspase inhibitor sufficient to reduce apoptosis in the pancreatic endocrine cells; and, (2) a growth factor in an amount sufficient to increase the level of activated Akt in the pancreatic endocrine cells.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method of promoting polyploidization of megakaryocytes and thereby producing highly polyploidized megakaryocytes, a method of efficiently producing platelets from polyploidized megakaryocytes, and the like. The present invention provides a method of producing polyploidized megakaryocytes comprising a step of forcing expression of an apoptosis suppressor gene in megakaryocytes before polyploidization and culturing the resulting cells.