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 investigat Read More

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 secr Read More

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 la Read More

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 s Read More

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 impo Read More

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 de Read More

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 relate Read More