title: Toward a clinical-grade expansion of mesenchymal stem cells from human sources: a microcarrier-based culture system under xeno-free conditions.
abstract: The immunomodulatory properties of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) make them attractive therapeutic agents for a wide range of diseases. However, the highly demanding cell doses used in MSC clinical trials (up to millions of cells/kg patient) currently require labor intensive methods and incur high reagent costs. Moreover, the use of xenogenic (xeno) serum-containing media represents a risk of contamination and raises safety concerns. Bioreactor systems in combination with novel xeno-free medium formulations represent a viable alternative to reproducibly achieve a safe and reliable MSC doses relevant for cell therapy. The main goal of the present study was to develop a complete xeno-free microcarrier-based culture system for the efficient expansion of human MSC from two different sources, human bone marrow (BM), and adipose tissue. After 14 days of culture in spinner flasks, BM MSC reached a maximum cell density of (2.0±0.2)×10⁵ cells·mL⁻¹ (18±1-fold increase), whereas adipose tissue-derived stem cells expanded to (1.4±0.5)×10⁵ cells·mL⁻¹ (14±7-fold increase). After the expansion, MSC expressed the characteristic markers CD73, CD90, and CD105, whereas negative for CD80 and human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DR. Expanded cells maintained the ability to differentiate robustly into osteoblast, adipocyte, and chondroblast lineages upon directed differentiation. These results demonstrated the feasibility of expanding human MSC in a scalable microcarrier-based stirred culture system under xeno-free conditions and represent an important step forward for the implementation of a Good Manufacturing Practices-compliant large-scale production system of MSC for cellular therapy.
authors: Department of Bioengineering, Instituto Superior Técnico-IST, Lisboa, Portugal.
authors: Francisco dos
authors: Fd
authors: Santos
authors: Pedro Z
authors: PZ
authors: Andrade
authors: Manuel M
authors: MM
authors: Abecasis
authors: Jeffrey M
authors: JM
authors: Gimble
authors: Lucas G
authors: LG
authors: Chase
authors: Andrew M
authors: AM
authors: Campbell
authors: Shayne
authors: S
authors: Boucher
authors: Mohan C
authors: MC
authors: Vemuri
authors: Cláudia Lobato da
authors: CL
authors: Silva
authors: Joaquim M S
authors: JM
authors: Cabral
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000166:cytology; D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D019070:Cell Lineage / Q000187:drug effects; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D003470:Culture Media / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D059630:Mesenchymal Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D008863:Microspheres; D010969:Plastics
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D010969:Plastics