The present invention pertains to a method for creating reprogramed cells from somatic cells without gene introduction. The method includes a step (a) for culturing somatic cells in a medium containing a histone deacetylase inhibitor, and a step (b) for culturing the cells cultured in step (a) in a medium containing an OCT3/4 transcription stimulating factor to create reprogrammed cells.

The present invention aims to solve a problem in T-cell transfer therapy and the like, which is T-cell exhaustion, and to provide a technique to enhance T cell activity. T cells having cell surface markers of CD45RA.sup.+ and CCR7.sup.+ can be produced by culturing activated T cells in the presence of (a) a conditioned medium derived from stromal cells or (b) CXCL12.

A method is disclosed for treating a cancer in a subject that involves administering to the subject a therapeutically affective amount of a geranylgeranyltransferase I (GGTase I) inhibitor, such as GGTI-2418, wherein the cancer comprises a defective PTEN, a hyperactivated FBXL2, or a low level of IP3R3. In some embodiments, the method further involves administering to the subject a therapeutically affective amount of an Akt inhibitor.

The present specification provides methods for augmenting the antigenic content, especially of tumor-associated antigens (TAA), and immunogenicity of cancer cells; methods for enhancing cross-presentation in dendritic cells, compositions comprising such manipulated cells derived from single cancer patients; and methods of using those compositions as a personal immunotherapeutic product to treat the donor patient's cancer.

Compounds, compositions, and methods for use in inhibiting the E3 enzyme Cbl-b in the ubiquitin proteasome pathway are disclosed. The compounds, compositions, and methods can be used to modulate the immune system, to treat diseases amenable to immune system modulation, and for treatment of cells in vivo, in vitro, or ex vivo.

The present invention provides methods of producing, purifying and expanding mDA progenitor cells.

Provided are a composition for ciliogenesis, containing a mesenchymal stem cell or a culture medium of mesenchymal stem cell. The mesenchymal stem cell or the culture medium of mesenchymal stem cell increases the number and promotes growth of primary cilia in cells. The mesenchymal stem cell or the culture medium of mesenchymal stem cell can be used as a pharmaceutical composition for preventing or treating diseases caused by ciliopathy or ciliary impairment. The mesenchymal stem cell or the culture medium of mesenchymal stem cell can be used as a cosmetic composition. A method for preventing or treating ciliopathy or ciliary impairment is disclosed.

Provided are age-modified cells and method for making age modified cells by reducing or increasing the level of genomic nucleic acid methylation in the cells. The aging and/or maturation process can be accelerated or reduced and controlled for young, aged, mature and/or immature cells, such as a somatic cell, a stem cell, a stem cell-derived somatic cell, including an induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cell, by reducing or increasing the level of genomic nucleic acid methylation in the cells. Methods described by the present disclosure can produce age-appropriate cells from a somatic cell or a stem cell, such as an old cell, young cell, immature cell, and/or a mature cell. Such age-modified cells constitute model systems for the study of late-onset diseases and/or disorders.

A population of enteroendocrine cells (EEC) is obtained from a mammalian post-natal cell population, such as a population including post-natal stem cells, by treating the population with a plurality of small molecules that upregulate ChgA and promote differentiation of the cells to form the enteroendocrine cells. The upregulation of ChgA is such that the fraction of cells expressing CGA in the obtained cell population, as measured by a ChgA Immunostaining Assay, is at least about 1.5%. Small molecules that can be used to differentiate the post-natal cells into the enteroendocrine cells can include at least one of a Wnt activator, a Notch inhibitor, a Wnt inhibitor, a MEK/ERK inhibitor, a growth factor, a HDAC inhibitor, a Histone Methylation Inhibitor, a Tgf-β inhibitor, and a NeuroD1 activator. Also, the insulin expression of a population of mammalian cells is increased by treating the population with a plurality of small molecules that increase the insulin expression.

A method for inducing differentiation into pancreatic α cells includes: a step (a) of culturing endodermal cells, which have been induced to differentiate from pluripotent stem cells, in the presence of a bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling inhibitor, and retinoic acid or a retinoic acid analog to induce differentiation into primitive gut tube (PGT) cells; a step (b) of culturing the primitive gut tube (PGT) cells to induce differentiation into pancreatic endocrine precursor (EP) cells; and a step (c) of culturing the pancreatic endocrine precursor (EP) cells to induce differentiation into pancreatic α cells, in which the step (b) and the step (c) are performed in the absence of ascorbic acid.