Large scale expansion of human umbilical cord cells in a rotating bed system bioreactor for cardiovascular tissue engineering applications

Scaling up human mesenchymal stem cell manufacturing using bioreactors for clinical uses

Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) are multipotent cells and an attractive therapeutic agent in regenerative medicine and intensive clinical research. Despite the great potential, the limitation that needs to be overcome is the necessity of ex vivo expansion because of insufficient number of hMSCs presented within adult organs and the high doses required for a transplantation. As a result, numerous research studies aim to provide novel expansion methods in order to achieve appropriate numbers of cells with preserved therapeutic quality. Bioreactor-based cell expansion provide high-level production of hMSCs in accordance with good manufacturing practice (GMP) and quality standards. This review summarizes current knowledge about the hMSCs manufacturing platforms with a main focus to the application of bioreactors for large-scale production of GMP-grade hMSCs.

Consumer Acceptance and Production of In Vitro Meat: A Review

In vitro meat (IVM) is a recent development in the production of sustainable food. The consumer perception of IVM has a strong impact on the commercial success of IVM. Hence this review examines existing studies related to consumer concerns, acceptance and uncertainty of IVM. This will help create better marketing strategies for IVM-producing companies in the future. In addition, IVM production is described in terms of the types of cells and culture conditions employed. The applications of self-organising, scaffolding, and 3D printing techniques to produce IVM are also discussed. As the conditions for IVM production are controlled and can be manipulated, it will be feasible to produce a chemically safe and disease-free meat with improved consumer acceptance on a sustainable basis.

Chemically Defined, Xeno-Free Expansion of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells (hMSCs) on Benchtop-Scale Using a Stirred Single-Use Bioreactor

In recent years, the use of hMSCs, which may be isolated from adipose tissue among others, for the treatment of diseases has increased significantly. The cell quantities required for such therapeutic approaches, between 10¹² and 10¹³, have thus far been predominantly produced using commercially available multi-tray systems, such as the Cell Factory (Thermo Fisher Scientific) or HYPERStack (Corning), which can be purchased with up to 40 layers. However, the handling of these planar multilayer systems is difficult, and process monitoring opportunities remain limited. Here, automated stirred single-use bioreactors provide a viable alternative to the time-consuming multiplication of cells using such planar systems, while still managing to achieve the desired clinically relevant quantities. In these stirred single-use systems, adherent cells are predominantly cultivated in suspension up to pilot scale using carrier materials, also referred to as microcarriers (MCs).This chapter describes the steps which need to be realized to guarantee successful hMSC expansion within a stirred single-use bioreactor (Eppendorf's BioBLU® 0.3c) operated using MCs under serum- and xeno-free conditions at benchtop scale. The cultivations were performed using an immortalized human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cell (hASC) line, hence referred to as hASC52telo, and a new chemically defined, xeno-free medium, hence referred to as the UrSuppe formulation. Spinner flask cultivations were performed under comparable process conditions.

Single-Use Bioreactors for Human Pluripotent and Adult Stem Cells: Towards Regenerative Medicine Applications

Research on human stem cells, such as pluripotent stem cells and mesenchymal stromal cells, has shown much promise in their use for regenerative medicine approaches. However, their use in patients requires large-scale expansion systems while maintaining the quality of the cells. Due to their characteristics, bioreactors have been regarded as ideal platforms to harbour stem cell biomanufacturing at a large scale. Specifically, single-use bioreactors have been recommended by regulatory agencies due to reducing the risk of product contamination, and many different systems have already been developed. This review describes single-use bioreactor platforms which have been used for human stem cell expansion and differentiation, along with their comparison with reusable systems in the development of a stem cell bioprocess for clinical applications.

Numerical Methods for the Design and Description of In Vitro Expansion Processes of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells

Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) are a valuable source of cells for clinical applications (e.g., treatment of acute myocardial infarction or inflammatory diseases), especially in the field of regenerative medicine. However, for autologous (patient-specific) and allogeneic (off-the-shelf) hMSC-based therapies, in vitro expansion is necessary prior to the clinical application in order to achieve the required cell numbers. Safe, reproducible, and economic in vitro expansion of hMSCs for autologous and allogeneic therapies can be problematic because the cell material is restricted and the cells are sensitive to environmental changes. It is beneficial to collect detailed information on the hydrodynamic conditions and cell growth behavior in a bioreactor system, in order to develop a so called "Digital Twin" of the cultivation system and expansion process. Numerical methods, such as Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) which has become widely used in the biotech industry for studying local characteristics within bioreactors or kinetic growth modelling, provide possible solutions for such tasks.In this review, we will present the current state-of-the-art for the in vitro expansion of hMSCs. Different numerical tools, including numerical fluid flow simulations and cell growth modelling approaches for hMSCs, will be presented. In addition, a case study demonstrating the applicability of CFD and kinetic growth modelling for the development of an microcarrier-based hMSC process will be shown.

Mass Production of Highly Active NK Cells for Cancer Immunotherapy in a GMP Conform Perfusion Bioreactor

NK cells have emerged as promising candidates for cancer immunotherapy, especially due to their ability to fight circulating tumor cells thereby preventing metastases formation. Hence several studies have been performed to generate and expand highly cytotoxic NK cells ex vivo, e.g., by using specific cytokines to upregulate both their proliferation and surface expression of distinct activating receptors. Apart from an enhanced activity, application of NK cells as immunotherapeutic agent further requires sufficient cell numbers and a high purity. All these parameters depend on a variety of different factors including the starting material, additives like cytokines as well as the culture system. Here we analyzed PBMC-derived NK cells of five anonymized healthy donors expanded under specific conditions in an innovative perfusion bioreactor system with respect to their phenotype, IFNγ production, and cytotoxicity in vitro. Important features of the meander type bioreactors used here are a directed laminar flow of medium and control of relevant process parameters. Cells are cultivated under "steady state" conditions in perfusion mode. Our data demonstrate that expansion of CD3⁺ T cell depleted PBMCs in our standardized system generates massive amounts of highly pure (>85%) and potent anti-cancer active NK cells. These cells express a variety of important receptors driving NK cell recruitment, adhesion as well as activation. More specifically, they express the chemokine receptors CXCR3, CXCR4, and CCR7, the adhesion molecules L-selectin, LFA-1, and VLA-4, the activating receptors NKp30, NKp44, NKp46, NKG2D, DNAM1, and CD16 as well as the death ligands TRAIL and Fas-L. Moreover, the generated NK cells show a strong IFNγ expression upon cultivation with K562 tumor cells and demonstrate a high cytotoxicity toward leukemic as well as solid tumor cell lines in vitro. Altogether, these characteristics promise a high clinical potency of thus produced NK cells awaiting further evaluation.

Characterization and Application of a Disposable Rotating Bed Bioreactor for Mesenchymal Stem Cell Expansion

Recruitment of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) into the field of tissue engineering is a promising development since these cells can be expanded vivo to clinically relevant numbers and, after expansion, retain their ability to differentiate into various cell lineages. Safety requirements and the necessity to obtain high cell numbers without frequent subcultivation of cells raised the question of the possibility of expanding MSC in one-way (single-use) disposable bioreactors. In this study, umbilical cord-derived MSC (UC-MSC) were expanded in a disposable Z 2000 H bioreactor under dynamic conditions. Z was characterized regarding residence time and mixing in order to evaluate the optimal bioreactor settings, enabling optimal mass transfer in the absence of shear stress, allowing an reproducible expansion of MSC, while maintaining their stemness properties. Culture of the UC-MSC in disposable Z 2000 H bioreactor resulted in a reproducible 8-fold increase of cell numbers after 5 days. Cells were shown to maintain specific MSC surface marker expression as well as trilineage differentiation potential and lack stress-induced premature senescence.

Rapid manufacturing techniques for the tissue engineering of human heart valves

Three-dimensional (3D) printing technologies have reached a level of quality that justifies considering rapid manufacturing for medical applications. Herein, we introduce a new approach using 3D printing to simplify and improve the fabrication of human heart valve scaffolds by tissue engineering (TE). Custom-made human heart valve scaffolds are to be fabricated on a selective laser-sintering 3D printer for subsequent seeding with vascular cells from human umbilical cords. The scaffolds will be produced from resorbable polymers that must feature a number of specific properties: the structure, i.e. particle granularity and shape, and thermic properties must be feasible for the printing process. They must be suitable for the cell-seeding process and at the same time should be resorbable. They must be applicable for implementation in the human body and flexible enough to support the full functionality of the valve. The research focuses mainly on the search for a suitable scaffold material that allows the implementation of both the printing process to produce the scaffolds and the cell-seeding process, while meeting all of the above requirements. Computer tomographic data from patients were transformed into a 3D data model suitable for the 3D printer. Our current activities involve various aspects of the printing process, material research and the implementation of the cell-seeding process. Different resorbable polymeric materials have been examined and used to fabricate heart valve scaffolds by rapid manufacturing. Human vascular cells attached to the scaffold surface should migrate additionally into the inner structure of the polymeric samples. The ultimate intention of our approach is to establish a heart valve fabrication process based on 3D rapid manufacturing and TE. Based on the computer tomographic data of a patient, a custom-made scaffold for a valve will be produced on a 3D printer and populated preferably by autologous cells. The long-term goal is to support the growth of a new valve by a 3D structure resorbed by the human body in the course of the growth process. Our current activities can be characterized as basic research in which the fundamental steps of the technical process and its feasibility are investigated.

Expansion of human mesenchymal stromal cells from fresh bone marrow in a 3D scaffold-based system under direct perfusion

Mesenchymal stromal/stem cell (MSC) expansion in conventional monolayer culture on plastic dishes (2D) leads to progressive loss of functionality and thus challenges fundamental studies on the physiology of skeletal progenitors, as well as translational applications for cellular therapy and molecular medicine. Here we demonstrate that 2D MSC expansion can be entirely bypassed by culturing freshly isolated bone marrow nucleated cells within 3D porous scaffolds in a perfusion-based bioreactor system. The 3D-perfusion system generated a stromal tissue that could be enzymatically treated to yield CD45- MSC. As compared to 2D-expanded MSC (control), those derived from 3D-perfusion culture after the same time (3 weeks) or a similar extent of proliferation (7-8 doublings) better maintained their progenitor properties, as assessed by a 4.3-fold higher clonogenicity and the superior differentiation capacity towards all typical mesenchymal lineages. Transcriptomic analysis of MSC from 5 donors validated the robustness of the process and indicated a reduced inter-donor variability and a significant upregulation of multipotency-related gene clusters following 3D-perfusion--as compared to 2D-expansion. Interestingly, the differences in functionality and transcriptomics between MSC expanded in 2D or under 3D-perfusion were only partially captured by cytofluorimetric analysis using conventional surface markers. The described system offers a multidisciplinary approach to study how factors of a 3D engineered niche regulate MSC function and, by streamlining conventional labor-intensive processes, is prone to automation and scalability within closed bioreactor systems.

In vitro generation of atrioventricular heart valve neoscaffolds

Tissue engineering of cardiovascular structures represents a novel approach to improve clinical strategies in heart valve disease treatment. The aim of this study was to engineer decellularized atrioventricular heart valve neoscaffolds with an intact ultrastructure and to reseed them with umbilical cord-derived endothelial cells under physiological conditions in a bioreactor environment. Mitral (n=38) and tricuspid (n=36) valves were harvested from 40 hearts of German Landrace swine from a selected abattoir. Decellularization of atrioventricular heart valves was achieved by a detergent-based cell extraction protocol. Evaluation of the decellularization method was conducted with light microscopy and quantitative analysis of collagen and elastin content. The presence of residual DNA within the decellularized atrioventricular heart valves was determined with spectrophotometric quantification. The described decellularization regime produced full removal of native cells while maintaining the mechanical stability and the quantitative composition of the atrioventricular heart valve neoscaffolds. The surface of the xenogeneic matrix could be successfully reseeded with in vitro-expanded human umbilical cord-derived endothelial cells under physiological flow conditions. After complete decellularization with the detergent-based protocol described here, physiological reseeding of the xenogeneic neoscaffolds resulted in the formation of a confluent layer of human umbilical cord-derived endothelial cells. These results warrant further research toward the generation of atrioventricular heart valve neoscaffolds on the basis of decellularized xenogeneic tissue.