Patent Portfolio

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Provided is a method for producing, from a donor cell, a low-antigenic cell that causes a reduced immune rejection when allogenically transplanted into a recipient, the method comprising a selective deletion of HLA alleles that are present in the donor cell but not in the recipient (donor-specific HLA alleles) through a targeted disruption or modification of the donor-specific HLA alleles by means of genome-editing technology. Being distinct from B2M knock-out cells (HLA-null cells), the low-antigenic cells of the invention are capable of evading NK cell attack (missing-self response) while having antigen-presenting ability. One aspect of the invention pertains to those cells in which both HLA-A alleles and HLA-B alleles are disrupted but at least one allele of HLA-C is retained (HLA-C retained cells). The HLA-C retained cells are especially useful in the field of cell therapy, since 12 kinds of HLA-C retained cells cover more than 93% of the world's population.（The low-antigenic cells of the invention are capable of evading NK cell attack (missing-self response) while having antigen-presenting ability. Especially the cells in which both HLA-A and HLA-B alleles are disrupted but HLA-C is retained (HLA-C retained cells) are useful in the field of cell therapy, since 12 kinds of HLA-C retained cells cover more than 93% of the world's population.）

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