Current status of platelet manufacturing in 3D or bioreactors.

Blood shortages for transfusion are global issues of grave concern. As in vitro manufactured platelets are promising substitutes for blood donation, recent research has shown progresses including different cell sources, different bioreactors, and three-dimensional materials. The first-in-human clinical trial of cultured platelets using induced pluripotent stem cell-derived platelets began in Japan and demonstrated its quality, safety, and efficacy.

Irradiation is not sufficient to eradicate residual immortalized erythroid cells in in vitro-generated red blood cell products.

Background: The generation of immortalized erythroid progenitor cell lines capable of producing enough red blood cells (RBCs) for blood transfusion typically requires the overexpression of oncogenes in stem cells or progenitor cells to permanently proliferate immature cells. It is essential that any live oncogene-expressing cells are eliminated from the final RBC products for clinical use.

Study Design And Methods: It is believed that safety issues may be resolved by using a leukoreduction filter or by irradiating the final products, as is conventionally done in blood banks; however, this has never been proven to be effective.

Current status of red blood cell manufacturing in 3D culture and bioreactors.

Owing to donor-related issues, blood shortages and transfusion-related adverse reactions have become global issues of grave concern. manufactured red blood cells (RBCs) are promising substitutes for blood donation. In the United Kingdom, a clinical trial for allogeneic mini transfusion of cultured RBCs derived from primary hematopoietic stem cells has recently begun.

Expansion of cytotoxic natural killer cells in multiple myeloma patients using K562 cells expressing OX40 ligand and membrane-bound IL-18 and IL-21.

Background: Natural killer (NK) cell-based immunotherapy is a promising treatment approach for multiple myeloma (MM), but obtaining a sufficient number of activated NK cells remains challenging. Here, we report an improved method to generate ex vivo expanded NK (eNK) cells from MM patients based on genetic engineering of K562 cells to express OX40 ligand and membrane-bound (mb) IL-18 and IL-21.

Methods: K562-OX40L-mbIL-18/-21 cells were generated by transducing K562-OX40L cells with a lentiviral vector encoding mbIL-18 and mbIL-21, and these were used as feeder cells to expand NK cells from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of healthy donors (HDs) and MM patients in the presence of IL-2/IL-15.

Multifunctional Microparticles with Stimulation and Sensing Capabilities for Facile NK Cell Activity Assay.

Natural killer (NK) cells are a subset of innate lymphoid cells playing an important role in immune surveillance and early defense against infection and cancer. They recognize and directly kill infected or transformed cells. At the same time, they produce various cytokines and chemokines to regulate other immune cells.

Expansion of Human NK Cells Using K562 Cells Expressing OX40 Ligand and Short Exposure to IL-21.

Natural Killer (NK) cell-based immunotherapy used to treat cancer requires the adoptive transfer of a large number of activated NK cells. Here, we report a new effective method to expand human NK cells using K562 cells genetically engineered (GE) to express OX40 ligand (K562-OX40L) in combination with a short exposure to soluble IL-21. In addition, we describe a possible mechanism of the NK cell expansion through the OX40 receptor-OX40 ligand axis which is dependent on NK cell homotypic interaction.

Dynamic Micropatterning of Cells on Nanostructured Surfaces Using a Cell-friendly Photoresist.

Cellular dynamics under complex topographical microenvironments are important for many biological processes in development and diseases, but systematic investigation has been limited due to the lack of technology. Herein, we developed a new dynamic cell patterning method based on a cell-friendly photoresist polymer that allows in situ control of cell dynamics on nanostructured surfaces. Using this method, we quantitatively compared the spreading dynamics of cells on nanostructured surfaces to those on flat surfaces.