Novel therapeutic for hematopoietic stem cell regeneration in bone marrow post my

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The purpose of this study is to establish in vivo proof of principle for a human therapeutic for hematopoietic stem cell regeneration in the bone marrow after myeloablation from radiation. Blood stem cells are the mostsusceptible to the effects of radiation and the most lethal. We have already demonstrated proof of principle for our therapeutic in vitro. If successful, the product of this project will be a protein-based drug that ill stimulate the growth of bone marrowcells and prevent death in people exposed to radiation. There is no drug or treatment available that stimulates the production of hematopoietic stem cells; Epogen and G-CSF only skew the differentiation of the existing pool of stem cells toward red blood cells or white blood cells, respectively. In addition, the FDA recently issued a Black Box warning that the use of these and related drugs increases risk of cancer recurrence. Our therapeutic is a novel growth factor that we discovered is secreted by na ve