METHOD OF PROLIFERATING TERMINAL DIFFERENTIATED CELLS AND RECOMBINANT VECTOR THEREFOR

摘要

Terminal differentiated cells are proliferated by transferring a cyclin and a cyclin-dependent kinase into the nuclei of the terminal differentiated cells and then culturing or maintaining the resultant cells. In particular, a method of proliferating terminal differentiated cells applicable to the treatment of heart diseases, etc. can be provided by adding a base sequence encoding a nuclear transport signal to at least one of a cyclin gene and a cyclin-dependent kinase gene, transferring these genes into terminal differentiated cells in vitro and then culturing the cells, or transferring the above-described genes directly into terminal differentiated cells in vivo. The cyclin as described above is a cyclin which is capable of activating CDK4 or CDK6, while the above-described cyclin-dependent kinase is one which is activated by D-type cyclin. Moreover, a recombinant vector usable in the above method and drugs containing the same are provided.