Proliferation of muc1 expressing cells

Abstract

The present application discloses a method for stimulating or enhancing proliferation of a population of cells by activating MUC1 receptor on the cells.

1 . (canceled) 
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 19 , wherein the activating is carried out by contacting the cells with (i) an agent that multimerizes the MGFR portion of MUC1; (ii) an agent that increases the cleavage of MUC1 to the growth factor receptor form; or (iii) a ligand that activates the MGFR portion of the MUC1 receptor. 
     
     
         3 .- 4 . (canceled) 
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claim 19 , wherein the cells are chosen from a group consisting of stem cells, progenitor cells, endometrial cells, neutrophil pre-cursors and neutrophils. 
     
     
         6 . The method according to  claim 19 , wherein the MUC1 receptor is a cell surface attached cleavage product. 
     
     
         7 . The method according to  claim 6 , wherein the MUC1 cleavage product is MGFR. 
     
     
         8 . The method according to  claim 7 , wherein the MGFR consists essentially of the PSMGFR. 
     
     
         9 . The method according to  claim 2 , wherein MUC1 receptor is activated by a multimerizing agent of the MUC1 receptor. 
     
     
         10 . The method according to  claim 9 , wherein the multimerizing agent is bivalent. 
     
     
         11 . The method according to  claim 10 , wherein the bivalent agent recognizes a portion of the MGFR. 
     
     
         12 . The method according to  claim 9 , wherein the bivalent agent is a synthetic compound. 
     
     
         13 . The method according to  claim 9  wherein the bivalent agent is a dimeric ligand of MUC1. 
     
     
         14 . The method according to  claim 10 , wherein the bivalent agent is an antibody. 
     
     
         15 . The method according to  claim 2 , wherein agent that increases the cleavage is an enzyme. 
     
     
         16 . The method according to  claim 15 , wherein the enzyme is TACE/ADAM17 or MMP14 also known as MT1-MMP. 
     
     
         17 .- 18 . (canceled) 
     
     
         19 . A method for treating a patient, who displays symptoms indicating that a medicinal benefit would be achieved by causing immature cells to proliferate, with an agent that activates MUC1 receptor in cells. 
     
     
         20 . The method according to  claim 19 , wherein MUC1 is activated by dimerizing the MGFR portion of the MUC1 receptor. 
     
     
         21 .- 27 . (canceled)