Cell Therapy: The Field’s Greatest Challenges Today

The last two decades have brought on a tremendous amount of innovation in living cell-based products.  That innovation has come with a new set of challenges in the field as well.  Jeff Karp, Associate Professor of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, will be speaking at this year’s Cell Therapy Bioprocessing conference.  We were able to pick his brain on what he feels some of these challenges in the field are today:

What are some of the greatest challenges in cell therapy today?

Jeff: I think that we’re getting to a point in time where we can obtain almost any cell type in unlimited quantities with a few exceptions. This is using reprogramming, programming, different differentiation, protocol that have recently been worked out. So, I really think we are getting to that point where we can obtain nearly any cell type that can then be delivered to patients for treatment.

While I think we’re there, I think one of the greatest challenges that remains is that once we transplant cells, we lose control over the cells. So, when we’re working with cells in a Petri dish, for example, we can pattern the media, we can put cells on all different types of textured substrates, we can control the media and the environment exquisitely. But, when we transplant cells, they are entirely at the mercy of the biological. So, if they end up in different tissues in the body, they are going to behave completely differently. So, we lose control of those cells following transplantation.

So, I think one of the greatest challenges is how can we now take the cells that we worked so hard to derive in vitro and then transplant those cells into patients and exhibit control so that the cells get to the right location and can perform their function when they get there?

Download our brochure to check out the rest of Jeff’s interview.

Get the latest from Jeff and other industry experts at this year’s Cell Therapy Bioprocessing conference, September 15-16, Arlington, VA.  Now, SAVE 20% off the standard rate.  Register here and use code XB14188BLOG.

See also- Cell Therapy Manufacturing: The Rapid Pace of Advancement

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Stem Cells Loaded with Herpes Being Used to Kill Brain Tumors

This post was contributed by @MikeMadarasz of the Institute of International Research

In a breakthrough discovery, researchers at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute have found that stem cells loaded in the herpes virus can effectively kill cancerous cells in brain tumors.  The study showed a marked improvement in the survival rate of mice with Glioblastoma Multiforme, one of the most common forms of cancer, when treated with these virus-loaded stem cells. 

Similar approaches using cancer-killing viruses have been utilized before in phase 1 and 2 clinical trials on brain tumors, but have experienced minimal success.  The biggest hurdle?  Keeping the herpes virus at the tumor site long enough before leaving the brain through cerebrospinal fluid.  To combat this, the Harvard team looked to mesenchymal stem cells, a type of stem cell that according to Harvard, is popular in drug delivery vehicles for the minimal immune responses it triggers.  The virus was loaded into these stem cells and injected into Glioblastoma tumors developed in mice.

Using multiple imaging markers, the team was able to watch the virus make its way through first layer of brain tumor cells and ultimately into all of the cells. 

Said Khalid Shah, MS, PhD, lead author of the study, “We know that 70-75 percent of glioblastoma patients undergo surgery for tumor debulking, and we have previously shown that MSCs encapsulated in biocompatible gels can be used as therapeutic agents in a mouse model that mimics this debulking.”  He added, “So, we loaded MSCs with oncolytic herpes virus and encapsulated these cells in biocompatible gels and applied the gels directly onto the adjacent tissue after debulking. We then compared the efficacy of virus-loaded, encapsulated MSCs versus direct injection of the virus into the cavity of the debulked tumors.”

Shah’s team was able to observe that the gel kept the stem cells alive longer and allowed them kill any cells not removed during the debulking.  This ultimately resulted in a higher survival rate for the mice. 

You can find the Harvard report here.

We’ll have more on the latest in cell therapy at the Cell Therapy Bioprocessing conference, September 15-16, Arlington, VA.  Now, SAVE 20%*. Register here and use discount code XB14188BLOG.

You can download the agenda here.

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*Discount applies to standard rate. New registrants only.

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What makes the Cell Therapy Bioprocessing event unique to the production of cell therapies?

The Cell Therapy Bioprocsesing event taking place October 21-22, 2013 in Bethesda, Maryland.  For more information on the event, download the agenda.  If you'd like to join us, as a reader of this blog, you're can save 20% off the standard rate when you register to join us and mention code B13188JP20!

Leading up to the Cell Therapy BioProcessing event, we've interviewed several of the key stakeholders who helped shape this year's event.  We'll start by looking at the recent interview we conduced with Event Chair Lee Buckler, the Founder and Managing Director of the Cell Therapy Group.

Today, Buckler answers the question:

Given the maturity of well-established bioprocessing conferences, is there really a need for a bioprocessing event unique to the production of cell therapies?

Lee: Well, it’s a good question and generally I’m of the opinion that there are too many conferences with overlapping topics. But I think what we have found really valuable about this Event is that it not only emphasizes the importance of cell therapy and the unique challenges of cell therapy bioprocessing to the traditional way of the processing community, but vice versa it’s been a forum for us to leverage the existing expertise and experience of traditional biotech bioprocessing into cell therapy.

I think a lot of times the people involved in the manufacturing of cell therapies are people who grew up with cell therapies and haven’t necessarily been exposed to some of the solutions and technologies and platforms that have already been used for other kinds of biologics. So, having this Event has been able to create a forum where we can motivate that cross flow of expertise
and experience, which I think is really critical. While there’s many shared aspects of bioprocessing common to cell therapy with other predecessor biologics, there’s a lot of things also that you need.

You can download Lee's full podcast here. Next week, Lee will look at what is unique about this conference.

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