Methods and Compositions of Generating Immunoevasive Endothelial Cells

Immunoevasive human endothelial cells (ECs) have been developed using CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology to knock out the genes (CIITA, a class II major histocompatibility complex transactivator, and CD58) eliminating ECs’ immunogenicity.
These immunoevasive cells retain the capacity to self-assemble into vascular structures in vivo and can be readily cultured from cord blood.
Therefore these cells offer great potential for tissue repair or graft perfusion without eliciting immunorejection.
Intellectual property: US patent application pending
Reference: Abrahimi P, Chang WG, Kluger MS, Qyang Y, Tellides G, Saltzman M, Pober JS: Efficient Gene Disruption in Cultured Primary Human Endothelial Cells by CRISPR/Cas9. Circ Res 2015.
Stage of Development: Proof of principle in vivo studies are under development.