The monoculture of cord-blood-derived CD34 cells by an automated, membrane-based dynamic perfusion system with a novel cytokine cocktail.

Human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-matched cord blood (CB) transplantation is a procedure for the treatment of certain hematological malignancies, hemoglobinopathies, and autoimmune disorders. However, one of the challenges is to provide a sufficient number of T cell-depleted hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells. Currently, only 4%-5% of the CB units stored in CB banks contain enough CD34 cells for engrafting 70-kg patients.

Stem-like memory T cells are generated during hollow fiber perfusion-based expansion and enriched after cryopreservation in an automated modular cell therapy manufacturing process.

Background Aims: Modular automation is a flexible and reliable option to build the foundation of a new or evolving process or to introduce automation to a process that is already established. Herein the authors demonstrate that modular automation provides both high-quality and high-yield T-cell products.

Methods: Cells from three individual donors collected on an automated continuous flow centrifugation system were successfully expanded in a functionally closed, automated, perfusion-based hollow fiber bioreactor.

Fecal Microbiota Composition Drives Immune Activation in HIV-infected Individuals.

The inflammatory properties of the enteric microbiota of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)-infected individuals are of considerable interest because of strong evidence that bacterial translocation contributes to chronic immune activation and disease progression. Altered enteric microbiota composition occurs with HIV infection but whether altered microbiota composition or increased intestinal permeability alone drives peripheral immune activation is controversial. To comprehensively assess the inflammatory properties of HIV-associated enteric microbiota and relate these to systemic immune activation, we developed methods to purify whole fecal bacterial communities (FBCs) from stool for use in in vitro immune stimulation assays with human cells.

Ablation of the complementarity-determining region H3 apex of the anti-HIV-1 broadly neutralizing antibody 2F5 abrogates neutralizing capacity without affecting core epitope binding.

The identification and characterization of broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) against HIV-1 has formed a major research focus, with the ultimate goal to help in the design of an effective AIDS vaccine. One of these bnAbs, 2F5, has been extensively characterized, and residues at the apex of its unusually long complementarity-determining region (CDR) H3 loop have been shown to be crucial for neutralization. Structural studies, however, have revealed that the (100)TLFGVPI(100F) apex residues of the CDR H3 loop do not interact directly with residues of its core gp41 epitope.