Edinburgh: Producing neural tumour stem cells

Licensing opportunity

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh have developed a new method of producing neural tumour stem cell lines. A patent covering all available territories has been filed and the university is seeking commercial partners to license the technology.

Despite the desire to obtain glioma neural cancer stem cell lines, the purification and propagation of these cells in vitro has not been successfully achieved.

Edinburgh researchers have shown that a subpopulation of putative cancer stem cells can be isolated from diverse adult and childhood brain tumours using the neural stem cell marker CD133. These cells can then initiate tumour formation following xenotransplantation.

According to the university, the purification method means that the cell line produced retains the characteristics of the original patient tumour and can be differentiated into different neural cell types. In addition, the technology produces adherent cells, which allow easy establishment of cell lines.

The possible applications include the development of screening assays to identify potential therapeutics, the identification of genetic markers for diagnosis, and improved selection of appropriate therapeutic regimes for patients with brain tumours.