Ex Vivo Manipulation of Cell Subsets for Cell Therapies

Abstract

Large-scale cell separation and ex vivo expansion technologies will form the basis for development of new cellular products for the treatment of cancer and fatal viral diseases. The cell subsets that are likely to play a significant role in cellular therapy include hematopoietic stem cells, platelet and granulocyte precursors, cytotoxic lymphocytes, and genetically modified hematopoietic or lymphoid precursors. Cell enrichment techniques are required to eliminate tumor cells from autologous stem cell grafts and to reduce the size of culture systems required for expansion or gene transfection. The consumption of expensive culture components such as cytokines and serum may be reduced by the use of perfusion bioreactor devices. Methods that have been developed for the production of cell subsets for cellular therapy are reviewed.

Cell Therapy: Types, Regulation, and Clinical Benefits

“…Similarly variable are the characterization techniques of somatic cells, which are important to preserve a specific phenotype in sufficient yields, and can include microscopic examination, molecular analysis, immunocytochemistry, and gene expression analysis ( 112 ). Somatic cells are highly specialized ( 115 ) and can be further manipulated or treated before reintroduction into humans ( 116 ). Somatic cell-based therapies are generally employed as an in vivo source of enzymes, cytokines, and growth factors; as an adoptive cell therapy (ACT) to treat cancers; as transplanted cells, such as hepatocytes or pancreatic islet cells, to correct inborn metabolic errors; or as scaffold-based or -free cellular systems to treat ulcers, burns, or cartilage lesions ( 9 , 117 ).…”

Functional Cells Cultured on Microcarriers for Use in Regenerative Medicine Research

“…Cell transplantation has been widely used in regenerative medicine or tissue engineering applications for many years (32,37,57,100). The most well-established therapeutic applications of cells grown in suspension are blood transfusion and transplantation of hematopoietic stem cells (52,58,66). The key to successful transplantation using cell-based technologies is the preparation of large enough numbers of high-quality cells.…”