Skip to main content
An official website of the United States government
Government Funding Lapse
Because of a lapse in government funding, the information on this website may not be up to date, transactions submitted via the website may not be processed, and the agency may not be able to respond to inquiries until appropriations are enacted.

The NIH Clinical Center (the research hospital of NIH) is open. For more details about its operating status, please visit cc.nih.gov.

Updates regarding government operating status and resumption of normal operations can be found at opm.gov.

Technology ID
TAB-4381

Methods of Producing Thymic Emigrants from Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

E-Numbers
E-250-2016-0
Lead Inventors
Sakoda, Raul
Co-Inventors
Klemen, Nicholas
Restifo, Nicholas
Applications
Therapeutics
Therapeutic Areas
Oncology
Infectious Disease
Development Stages
Pre-clinical (in vivo)
Lead IC
NCI

Hematopoietic and pluripotent stem cells can be differentiated into T cells with potential clinical utility. Current approaches for in vitro T cell production rely on Notch signaling and artificial mimicry of thymic selection. However, these approaches result in unconventional or phenotypically aberrant T cells; which may lead to unpredictable behavior in clinical use. Thus, there exists a need for improved methods of generating conventional T cells in vitro from stem cells.
 
Researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) have developed a novel method for the in vitro differentiation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) into induced pluripotent stem cell thymic emigrant (iTE) cells. Cells produced by this method are functionally equivalent to natural naïve CD8αβ+ T cells. The approach utilizes improved fetal thymic organ culture methodology to mature progenitor cells into conventional T cells in the presence of extrinsic Notch signaling. Cell culture conditions further provide for positive and negative selection to ensure proper maturation. This method produces conventional T cells that are suitable for clinical applications such adoptive cell therapy. 

The NCI, Surgery Branch, is seeking statements of capability or interest from parties interested in licensing or collaborative research to further develop, evaluate, or commercialize this method of generating naïve T cells from iPSCs.

A visual allegory of the generation of iPSC-derived thymic emigrants (in red)

Image: A visual allegory of the generation of iPSC-derived thymic emigrants (in red).
Photo credit: Michael J. Kruhlak, Experimental Transplantation and Immunology Branch (ETIB)

CCR News: https://ccr.cancer.gov/news/article/stem-cell-technology-rejuvenates-can...

Competitive Advantages:

  • Long term development of this technology can be applied to a wide range of services in regenerative medicine and immunology 
  • Improved fetal thymic organ culture methodology using a hanging-drop system

Commercial Applications:

  • Applicable for the generation of minimally differentiated T-cells for cancer therapy and broad repertoires of T-cells for patients with lymphopenia

Request More Info

Licensing Contacts
Burke, Andrew
burkear@mail.nih.gov

Related Inventions

  • E-133-2017           TAB-4206
    In vitro Generation of an Autologous Thymic Organoid from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells

Patents

  • US Patent 12,215,349
    Filed on 2019-06-12
    Status: Issued
  • US
    Provisional (PRV) 62/433,591
    Filed on 2016-12-13
    Status: Abandoned
  • Patent Cooperation Treaty
    (PCT) PCT/US2017/065986
    Filed on 2017-12-13
    Status: Expired
  • European Patent
    National Stage 17825696.2
    Filed on 2019-06-11
    Status: Issued

Publications

Collaborations

  • Licensing
Date Published