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Wednesday, 21 Feb, 2018
CTeD Features: Expanding stem cells from umbilical cord blood
A team from the Duke-NUS Medical School has developed a novel and superior method for generating and expanding hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) from umbilical cord blood (UCB). This has the potential to support stem cell transplants by replacing the diseased blood cells with healthy donor blood cells. These transplants are used to treat a range of malignant and non-malignant blood disorders, such as leukaemia, lymphoma and Fanconi anaemia.
Using the expansion method to improve transplant outcomes
Previously, bone marrow was the main source of cells for stem cell transplants. In the past few decades, due to improved safety, efficacy and availability of the stem cells, UCB has become a valuable alternative source for these transplants. However, UCB transplants have demonstrated reduced success in adult patients (compared to paediatric patients), as the number of stem cells available for transplantation is insufficient, as it is limited by what can be collected from a single umbilical cord. Because of this, adult UCB transplant patients tend to take a longer time to recover, compared to bone marrow and peripheral blood stem cell transplants.
Researchers at Duke-NUS aim to solve this problem using a method that facilitates the expansion of HSPCs in greatly increased numbers, thereby improving the outcomes of UCB transplants. This expansion technique may also be applicable to bone marrow and peripheral blood HSPCs.
Expanding cells by the thousands
The expansion technique involves culturing UCB mononucleated cells and treating them with an azole-based small molecule (called IM-29) and a combination of cytokines. This process resulted in the increase of total nucleated cells at least five-fold, and more specifically expanded HSPCs by at least 1,000 fold.
Importantly, the expanded cells maintained the original HSPC’s functionality. This new method has advantages over existing approaches, as it is not necessary to perform prior stem cell selection. It also involves the combination of just four cytokines and a small molecule to achieve expansion, compared with existing expansion technologies involving a complex cocktail of cytokines. Furthermore, only a single UCB collection is required to obtain an IM-29 expanded graft, which results in sufficient HSPCs for a transplant.
The patent applications for this technology were filed in 2016.