An efficient protocol for deriving liver stem cells from neonatal mice: validating its differentiation potential.

The success of liver regeneration depends on the availability of suitable cell types and their potential to differentiate into functional hepatocytes. To identify the stem cells which have the ability to differentiate into hepatocytes, we used neonatal liver as source. However, the current protocol for isolating stem cells from liver involves enzymes like collagenase, hyaluronidase exposed for longer duration which limits the success.

Immunotoxin therapy for hematologic malignancies: where are we heading?

The identification of numerous unique targets in recent years has led to the development of various immunotoxins (ITs) for treating hematological malignancies. Some of these ITs have advanced to clinical trials and have resulted in a high response rate against leukemia. Newer targets with improve specificity are also being identified for targeting several leukemias.

Specific targeting of Ep-CAM in various carcinomas by novel monoclonal antibodies.

Epithelial cell adhesion molecule (Ep-CAM) is a 40 kDa transmembrane glycoprotein overexpressed in majority of tumor epithelial cells and has a major morphoregulatory function, relevant not only to epithelial tissue development, but also in carcinogenesis and tumor progression. Since Ep-CAM localizes at the cell surface of most carcinomas, the molecule is an attractive target for immunotherapy and several strategies have been deployed to treat cancer using Ep-CAM targeting, including MAb therapy. For improving effective targeting of this protein for diagnostics in various clinical samples, we generated and characterized an anti-Ep-CAM MAb (C4) using recombinant Ep-CAM protein, comprising the highly immunogenic domain.