Biobanking: The Future of Cell Preservation Strategies

Abstract

With established techniques cryopreservation is often viewed as an "old school" discipline yet modern cryopreservation is undergoing another scientific and technology development growth phase. In this regard, today's cryopreservation processes and cryopreserved products are found at the forefront of research in the areas of discovery science, stem cell research, diagnostic development and personalized medicine. As the utilization of cryopreserved cells continues to increase, the demands placed on the biobanking industry are increasing and evolving at an accelerated rate. No longer are samples providing for high immediate post-thaw viability adequate. Researchers are now requiring samples where not only is there high cell recovery but that the product recovered is physiologically and biochemically identical to its pre-freeze state at the genominic, proteomic, structural, functional and reproductive levels. Given this, biobanks are now facing the challenge of adapting strategies and protocols to address these needs moving forward. Recent studies have shown that the control and direction of the molecular response of cells to cryopreservation significantly impacts final outcome. This chapter provides an overview of the molecular stress responses of cells to cryopreservation, the impact of the apoptotic and necrotic cell death continuum and how studies focused on the targeted modulation of common and/or cell specific responses to freezing temperatures provide a path to improving sample quality and utility. This line of investigation has provided a new direction and molecular-based foundation guiding new research, technology development and procedures. As the use of and the knowledge base surrounding cryopreservation continues to expand, this path will continue to provide for improvements in overall efficacy and outcome.

Human Schwann cells exhibit long‐term cell survival, are not tumorigenic and promote repair when transplanted into the contused spinal cord

“…A possible explanation for this finding is that the cryopreservation protocol, which produces some degree of cell loss, may act as a selection method. In this way, HuSCs expressing higher levels of anti‐apoptotic factors or molecules that make them more resistant to oxidative stress or preserve membrane stability (Baust, Corwin, VanBuskirk, & Baust, ; Bissoyi, Nayak, Pramanik, & Sarangi, ) would thus be selected during the cryopreservation and recovery process. In studies with myocardial cells, prior cryopreservation has been shown to increase the proliferation capacity of the cells as well as reduce their immunogenicity (Yokomuro et al, ).…”

Applications and optimization of cryopreservation technologies to cellular therapeutics

“…One point of discussion has been the use of regulatory-compliant protein sources (such as foetal bovine serum or human serum) [83] or xeno-protein free solutions [84] as a CPA carrier media. Some commercially available GMP-compliant CPA solutions have recently become available (CryoStor™, BioLife) [2]. For specific types of non-autologous cell therapies, the importance of recording and testing of cell provenance throughout the development of master and working cell banks is an additional important consideration [85].…”

“…These considerations sometimes introduce new challenges that may not have been important in the original laboratory studies on that particular cell therapy. One such consideration is product storage (cryobanking), which is often required to sustain cell therapy delivery to the end user facilities at the required time, providing a quality assured product with required safety and potency characteristics [1,2]. Cryopreservation in its various forms is one of the main facilitatory technologies for cell therapies to be able to meet these demands.…”

Advances in the slow freezing cryopreservation of microencapsulated cells

“…However, this method will only permit storage for a few days and rules out the possibility of being a desirable method for long-term storage or delivey. Thus, the preservation at deep cryogenic temperatures (ranging from -196°C to approximately -150°C) where cells, tissues, cell-based products or organs are suspended in a tissue medium with one or more cryoprotectants (CPAs), a process named cryopreservation, is the only technology that enables "holding the biological clock" of cell-based products and facilitates the "on demand" access of patients to the treatments in a clinic far from the manufacturer [1,2] Theoretically, if cryopreservation works successfully, it should provide a quality product that ensures the previous characteristics are kept. However, during the cryopreservation process several mechanisms lead to cell damage and compromise product quality and integrity.…”