Umbilical Cord Blood and Cord Tissue Bank as a Source for Allogeneic Use

Recently, umbilical cord blood (CB) has received attention as the allogeneic optimum source for immunotherapies. More recently, the umbilical cord (UC) has been rapidly utilized as an abundant source of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs), which migrate toward the inflammatory and damaged tissue to subside the inflammation and support tissue repair. Both CB and UC can be provided “off-the-shelf” cell products for immunotherapies and regenerative medicine. As biomedical wastes, CB and UC can be obtained noninvasively without any risks to the donor. CB cells and UC-derived MSCs (UC-MSCs) also have higher proliferation potentials than other cells obtained from adult tissues. In addition, UC-MSCs are less immunogenic and have significant immunosuppressive ability. Several clinical trials with CB or UC-MSCs have been conducted based on these advantages. The establishment of a stable supply system of CB and UC-MSCs is critical now for their utilization in regenerative and immune cell therapies. We have thus established the cord blood/cord bank, “IMSUT CORD,” as a new type of biobank, to supply both frozen CB and UC tissues and derived cells for research and clinical uses. In this chapter, we will introduce the overall flow from collection to shipment and discuss several issues that need to be resolved in unrelated allogeneic stable supply system

Establishment and evaluation of the suspension culture system for umbilical cord- derived mesenchymal stromal cells

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) derived from various tissues including bone marrow, adipose and umbilical cord tissues have been shown to modulate aberrantly activated immune system. With the features, MSC-based therapies targeting graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) by the administration of bone marrow-derived MSCs (BM-MSCs) have been available in some countries including Japan, and the expectations for the stable and cost effective supply system are getting higher and higher recently. However, the conventional culture systems which usually use plastic flask or multi-chamber equipment require space and manpower, thus the maximal expansion of MSCs at one production is likely to be limited. To compensate the limitation, repetitive productions have been unavoidable, and higher the production cost. Here, we introduced a new suspension-culture system, using micro-carriers and single-use-bioreactors, for the preparation of MSCs in anticipation of establishment of mass production system. Since the umbilical cord (UC) tissues can be collected through noninvasive procedure, and UC-derived MSCs (UC-MSCs) are shown to present higher proliferation rate and lower immunogenicity in comparison with BM-MSCs, we evaluated the potential and the versatility of UC-MSCs for the treatment of several diseases including GvHD. Results from several in vitro assays demonstrated that our new culture system maintains major key characteristics of MSCs, such as adhesiveness to cell culture surface, the expression of cell surface markers, differentiation capacities toward osteoblasts, chondroblasts, and adipocytes, and immunosuppressive effects on activated T cells. We are currently investigating cellular profiles and characteristics which are specific to the cells prepared in our suspension-culture system through meta-analysis. The established suspension-culture system is presumed to attain the mass production of UC-MSCs, contributing to lower the cost and also providing possible applications for MSCs from other origins

Cord Blood Transplantation from Unrelated Donors for Children with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in Japan: The Impact of Methotrexate on Clinical Outcomes

Cord blood transplantation (CBT) from an unrelated donor is recognized as one of the major treatment modalities in allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT) for children with hematologic malignancies. We analyzed the clinical outcomes of CBT for children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in Japan and identified the risk factors for the transplant outcomes. From 1997 to 2006, 332 children with ALL underwent CBT from unrelated donors, 270 of which had no prior transplant. Their disease statuses at transplant were first complete remission (CR) (n = 120), second CR (n = 71), and more advanced stages (n = 75). As preconditioning for SCT, total body irradiation (TBI) was given to 194 patients and, for the prophylaxis of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), methotrexate (MTX) was given to 159 patients. The cumulative incidents of neutrophil and platelet recovery (>20 K) were 88.5% and 78.4%, respectively. The incidents of grade II-IV, III-IV acute GVHD (aGVHD), and chronic GVHD (cGVHD) were 45.6%, 20.4%, and 19.2%, respectively, and treatment-related mortality was 22.6%. The 5-year event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) at CR1, CR2, and advanced status were 47.4%, 45.5%, 15.0%, and 63.7%, 59.7%, and 20.7%, respectively. Multivariate analysis revealed that MTX with calcineurin inhibitor (CNI) was associated with decreased incidence of grade II-IV GVHD (CNI alone: hazard ratio [HR] = 1.74, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.06-2.83, P = .027; CNI + prednisolone (PSL), HR = 1.61, 95% CI = 1.03-2.50, P = .036), III-IV aGVHD (CNI alone: HR = 3.02, 95% CI = 1.55-5.91, P = 0.001; CNI + PSL, HR = 1.89, 95% CI = 0.93-3.83, P = .078), or cGVHD (CNI alone: HR = 1.78, 95% CI = 0.83-3.82, P = .143; CNI + PSL, HR = 2.44, 95% CI = 1.24-4.82, P = .01), compared with CNI alone or CNI + PSL. At an advanced stage of disease, GVHD prophylaxis with MTX + CNI is associated with improved OS compared with CNI alone (CNI alone: HR = 3.20, 95% CI = 1.43-7.15, P = .005; CNI + PSL, HR = 1.47, CI = 0.67-3.20, P = .332). Our retrospective study showed that CBT for children with ALL is feasible and GVHD prophylaxis with MTX + CNI is associated with significant favorable outcomes in prevention of aGVHD and cGVHD as well as survival advantage in advanced cases

Acute megakaryoblastic leukemia, unlike acute erythroid leukemia, predicts an unfavorable outcome after allogeneic HSCT

Acute erythroid leukemia (FAB-M6) and acute megakaryoblastic leukemia (FAB-M7) exhibit closely related properties in cells regarding morphology and the gene expression profile. Although allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) is considered the mainstay of the treatment for both subtypes of leukemia due to their refractoriness to chemotherapy and high rates of relapse, it remains unclear whether allo-HSCT is curative in such cases due to their scarcity. We retrospectively examined the impact of allo-HSCT in 382 patients with M6 and 108 patients with M7 using nationwide HSCT data and found the overall survival (OS) and relapse rates of the M6 patients to be significantly better than those of the M7 patients after adjusting for confounding factors and statistically comparable with those of the patients with M0/M1/M2/M4/M5 disease. Consequently, the factors of age, gender, performance status, karyotype, disease status at HSCT and development of graft-vs.-host disease predicted the OS for the M6 patients, while the performance status and disease status at HSCT were predictive of the OS for the M7 patients. These findings substantiate the importance of distinguishing between M6 and M7 in the HSCT setting and suggest that unknown mechanisms influence the HSCT outcomes of these closely related subtypes of leukemia. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd.Embargo Period 12 month

Impact of administering umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells to cynomolgus monkeys with endometriosis

Purpose: This study aimed to explore whether umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells (UC-MSCs) could be used as a therapeutic resource for endometriosis. Methods: Of seven cynomolgus monkeys with endometriosis, five were administered UC-MSCs (intervention group) and two were administered saline (control group). First, intravenous US-MSC treatment was administered for three months. Second, weekly intravenous US-MSC administration combined with monthly intraperitoneal US-MSC administration was conducted for 3 months. Finally, weekly intraperitoneal US-MSC administration was conducted for 3 months. The dose of UC-MSCs was set to 2 × 106 cells/kg for all administration routes. Laparoscopic findings and serum cancer antigen 125 (CA125) levels were also evaluated. The Revised American Society for Reproductive Medicine classification was used for laparoscopic evaluation. Results: Laparoscopic findings showed exacerbation of endometriosis after intraperitoneal UC-MSC administration, although no changes were observed in the control group. Intravenous UC-MSC administration decreased the level of CA125 in all monkeys; however, the difference was not significant. Intraperitoneal UC-MSC administration significantly exacerbated endometriosis compared with intravenous administration (p = 0.02). Conclusions: This study revealed that intraperitoneal UC-MSC administration exacerbates endometriosis in a nonhuman primate model of the disease.journal articl

Risk factors for CAR-T cell manufacturing failure among DLBCL patients: A nationwide survey in Japan

CAR-T細胞製造を成功させるためのレシピ --アフェレーシス前の下ごしらえでの工夫--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2023-04-27.For successful chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR-T) cell therapy, CAR-T cells must be manufactured without failure caused by suboptimal expansion. In order to determine risk factors for CAR-T cell manufacturing failure, we performed a nationwide cohort study in Japan and analysed patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) who underwent tisagenlecleucel production. We compared clinical factors between 30 cases that failed (7.4%) with those that succeeded (n = 378). Among the failures, the proportion of patients previously treated with bendamustine (43.3% vs. 14.8%; p < 0.001) was significantly higher, and their platelet counts (12.0 vs. 17.0 × 10⁴/μL; p = 0.01) and CD4/CD8 T-cell ratio (0.30 vs. 0.56; p < 0.01) in peripheral blood at apheresis were significantly lower than in the successful group. Multivariate analysis revealed that repeated bendamustine use with short washout periods prior to apheresis (odds ratio [OR], 5.52; p = 0.013 for ≥6 cycles with washout period of 3–24 months; OR, 57.09; p = 0.005 for ≥3 cycles with washout period of <3 months), low platelet counts (OR, 0.495 per 105/μL; p = 0.022) or low CD4/CD8 ratios (<one third) (OR, 3.249; p = 0.011) in peripheral blood at apheresis increased the risk of manufacturing failure. Manufacturing failure remains an obstacle to CAR-T cell therapy for DLBCL patients. Avoiding risk factors, such as repeated bendamustine administration without sufficient washout, and risk-adapted strategies may help to optimize CAR-T cell therapy for DLBCL patients

Umbilical cord blood and cord tissue banking as somatic stem cell resources to support medical cell modalities

Abstract Human umbilical cord blood (CB) and umbilical cord tissue (UC) are attractive sources of somatic stem cells for gene and cell therapies. CB and UC can be obtained noninvasively from donors. CB, a known source of hematopoietic stem cells for transplantation, has attracted attention as a new source of immune cells, including universal chimeric antigen receptor-T cell therapy (CAR-T) and, more recently, universal CAR-natural killer cells. UC-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (UC-MSCs) have a higher proliferation potency than those derived from adult tissues and can be used anon-HLA restrictively. UC-MSCs meet the MSC criteria outlined by the International Society of Gene and Cellular Therapy. UC-MSCs are negative for HLA-DR, CD80, and CD86 and have an immunosuppressive ability that mitigates the proliferation of activated lymphocytes through secreting indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 and prostaglandin E2, and the expression of PD-L2 and PD-L1. We established the off-the-shelf cord blood/cord bank IMSUT CORD to support novel cell therapy modalities, including the CB-derived immune cells, MSCs, MSCs-derived extracellular vesicles, biological carriers loaded with chemotherapy drugs, prodrug, oncolytic viruses, nanoparticles, human artificial chromosome, combinational products with a scaffold, bio3D printing, and so on

Mesenchymal Stromal Cells Perspective: New Potential Therapeutic for the Treatment of Neurological Diseases

Several studies have shown that mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (MSCs) exert their neuroprotective and neurorestorative efficacy via the secretion of neurotrophic factors. Based on these studies, many clinical trials using MSCs for the treatment of neurological disorders have been conducted, and results regarding their feasibility and efficacy have been reported. The present review aims to highlight the characteristics and basic research regarding the role of MSCs in neurological disease and to discuss the recent progress in clinical trials using MSCs to treat various neurological disorders

Mesenchymal stromal cells as a potential therapeutic for neurological disorders

Several studies have reported that mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (MSCs) restore neurological damage through their secretion of paracrine factors or their differentiation to neuronal cells. Based on these studies, many clinical trials have been conducted using MSCs for neurological disorders, and their safety and efficacy have been reported. In this review, we provide a brief introduction to MSCs, especially umbilical cord derived-MSCs (UC-MSCs), in terms of characteristics, isolation, and cryopreservation, and discuss the recent progress in regenerative therapies using MSCs for various neurological disorders. Keywords: Mesenchymal stromal cell, Umbilical cord, Neurological disorders, Cerebral palsy, Neurotrophic facto