Recent Patents on Regenerative Medicine - Volume 2, Issue 3, 2012

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is conventionally considered as an irreversible condition with damaged gray matter and myelinated fiber tracts in white matter. This condition also results in limited functional recovery and life-threatening secondary complications. Regenerative medicine is a rapidly growing field that bears great promise to replace or repair the damaged neural system. A wide range of cell types have been investigated. Positive results have been demonstrated through multiple approaches, i.e., transplanting and/or migrating stem cells to the injury site, suppressing the activity of molecules that inhibit axon regrowth and remyelination, or a combination of the methods. However, there are still numerous issues to be addressed before establishing it as a clinical routine. In the current article, the recent technique advancements in regenerative medicine are reviewed with an emphasis on relevant patents awarded between 2007 and 2011.

Microglial cells are tissue macrophages of the central nervous system, with important role in surveillance and in the clearance of dead cells and extracellular matrix. Despite their role in the homeostasis of the central nervous system, microglial cells have also been correlated to several pathological findings, such as those observed in Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer disease, stroke and many others. Microglia are able to secrete several pro-inflammatory molecules which may greatly account for the establishment of focal lesions. On the other hand, these cells may also express molecules with suppressive characteristics, as TGF-β, IL-10 and IDO. This raises the idea that microglia may also exert immunomodulatory functions as an attempt to dampen central nervous system inflammation. We review some aspects of microglial biology, such as ontogeny, phenotype, gene transcription and specially its role in several different neurological inflammatory diseases. This review discusses patents of several pharmaceutical compounds with actions on microglial cells which have the aim of controlling neuroinflammation. Some patents are about new pharmaceutical compounds that are not in clinical use while others propose new applications for drugs already use in clinical practice. Finally, some patents focus on cell therapy and new routes for drugs application.

Neurogenesis has been found in adult human brain after brain damage. MRI is a promising tool for in vivo stem cell monitoring to evaluate the efficacy and mechanisms of neurogenesis arising from endogenous stem cells. To date, SPIO is most commonly used for MRI detection of labeled cells after cell transplantation, and has been used in clinical studies for MRI monitoring of labeled stem cells. Generally, stem cells are labeled in vitro before implantation and in vivo MRI tracking in human studies. However, labeling stem cell in situ and then tracking in vivo with MRI have been achieved in animal experiments. Methods for in situ labeling of endogenous neural stem cells in human with SPIO may be developed based on current techniques and methods, though it should overcome big challenges to achieve this aim. Quantitative analysis of temporo-spatial dynamics of labeled neural stem cells, BOLD-fMRI and functional connectivity analysis have hardly been applied in studies monitoring labeled neural stem cells. These methods may further our understanding of neural stem cell-mediated brain repair. The relevant patents are discussed.

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a highly lethal tumor characterized by heterogeneous tumor cell populations including a small subpopulation of cells harboring stem cell properties, termed brain tumor stem-like cells (BTSC). Despite current standard treatments including maximal surgical resection, chemotherapy with temozolomide, and radiotherapy, the prognosis for GBM patients remains extremely poor with a median survival period of approximately 14.6 months. Such poor survival rates have caused GBM to receive significant attention in attempts to develop more effective therapeutic approaches. BTSC possess the abilities to self-renew and to give rise to diverse tumor cell types, and are likely responsible for the therapy resistant and pervasive nature of GBM. Since current therapies have only limited effect on targeting and eliminating BTSC, a paradigm shift has occurred in the field of translational research toward developing therapies against these malignant stem cells. This review highlights the current attempts and approaches to implement tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) as novel mechanism-based molecularly-targeting therapies against GBM. This discussion includes the current patents related to BTSC-targeting methodologies, elucidation of the mechanisms of tyrosine kinases in GBM, and therapeutic development with TKIs for the deadly disease, GBM.

The goal of regenerative medicine for neurodegenerative diseases is the design of a patient-specific therapeutic approach. A plethora of patents promoting innovative therapeutic tools will contribute to this ambitious purpose. Pioneering technologies such as gene transfer, stem cells and biomaterials, regulatory molecules such as microRNAs or chaperone proteins and innovative clinical practices, represent the most important therapeutic instruments for generating more effective clinical trials for patients suffering from these disorders. In this review, we report a landscape of the most recent patents related to the development of new tools for regenerative medicine for neurodegenerative diseases.

The use of blood derivatives has been one of the most important advances in Ophthalmology in recent decades. Their successful application in Ophthalmology has led to the development of new methods and techniques, opening up many treatment options for pathologies of the ocular surface, and facilitating and improving the maintenance of its integrity and regeneration. In concrete, in regenerative medicine blood derivates have been proven to be effective in tissue repair, in the form of stem cell transplants, artificial tissues and organs, or as part of matrices and as culture media. The wide range of uses and the rapid innovation of these techniques mean that it is important to keep up to date. We will therefore, briefly review the main concepts, their development, different types of treatment and applications, and the present and future situation concerning this subject, highlighting the most important innovations and the future of blood derivatives in the treatment of the ocular surface.

The recent patents annotated in this section have been selected from various patent databases, and are relevant to the articles published in this journal issue. The patents are categorized in fast emerging areas of regenerative medicine e.g. stem cells, human embryonic stem, gene therapy, tissue engineering, regenerative biomolecules, use of biomaterials for treating disease and injury, and tissue/ organ regeneration related to regenerative medicine....