THE EFFICIENT CULTURE OF STEM CELLS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF HEMOGLOBIN

摘要

The present invention describes a serum-free medium that promotes the growth and differentiation of erythroid cells, cells that are highly transducible b y a non-viral method and genes which increase the growth of erythroid cells an d decrease their dependency on Epo. This invention can be used in the expansio n of hematopoietic stem cells to produce cultures of erythroid cells as a sour ce of erythroid-specific proteins such as hemoglobin. Hematopoietic stem cells are cultured ex vivo in a serum-free culture medium with the addition of IL- 3, SCF and EPO. Cells transfected with the gene described in the present invention can be cultured in the serum-free culture medium with decreased dependency on Epo and other cytokines, thereby reducing the cost of the production of hemoglobin.