Characterization of human induced pluripotent stems cells: Current approaches, challenges, and future solutions

3D skin bioprinting as promising therapeutic strategy for radiation-associated skin injuries

Both cutaneous radiation injury and radiation combined injury (RCI) could have serious skin traumas, which are collectively referred to as radiation-associated skin injuries in this paper. These two types of skin injuries require special managements of wounds, and the therapeutic effects still need to be further improved. Cutaneous radiation injuries are common in both radiotherapy patients and victims of radioactive source accidents, which could lead to skin necrosis and ulcers in serious conditions. At present, there are still many challenges in management of cutaneous radiation injuries including early diagnosis, lesion assessment, and treatment prognosis. Radiation combined injuries are special and important issues in severe nuclear accidents, which often accompanied by serious skin traumas. Mass victims of RCI would be the focus of public health concern. Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting, as a versatile and favourable technique, offers effective approaches to fabricate biomimetic architectures with bioactivity, which provides potentials for resolve the challenges in treating radiation-associated skin injuries. Combining with the cutting-edge advances in 3D skin bioprinting, the authors analyse the damage characteristics of skin wounds in both cutaneous radiation injury and RCI and look forward to the potential value of 3D skin bioprinting for the treatments of radiation-associated skin injuries.

Overcoming the Variability of iPSCs in the Manufacturing of Cell-Based Therapies

Various factors are known to contribute to the diversity of human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs). Among these are the donor's genetic background and family history, the somatic cell source, the iPSC reprogramming method, and the culture system of choice. Moreover, variability is seen even in iPSC clones, generated in a single reprogramming event, where the donor, somatic cell type, and reprogramming platform are the same. The diversity seen in iPSC lines often translates to epigenetic differences, as well as to differences in the expansion rate, iPSC line culture robustness, and their ability to differentiate into specific cell types. As such, the diversity of iPSCs presents a hurdle to standardizing iPSC-based cell therapy manufacturing. In this review, we will expand on the various factors that impact iPSC diversity and the strategies and tools that could be taken by the industry to overcome the differences amongst various iPSC lines, therefore enabling robust and reproducible iPSC-based cell therapy manufacturing processes.