Engineered Cells and Tissues

Locksley McGann, PhD

ProfessorDepartment of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology

University of Alberta

24 April, 2012

Analytics, Big Data and the Cloud

E2. Personalized Medicine – Diagnostics & Therapy

Image: http://www.jamesphillips.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Engineered-Neural-Tissue-300x261.jpg

This talk is a little bit about …

• Cellular therapies• Tissue transplantation• Current and emerging applications• Role of analytics in future developments

Image: http://njcprinting.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/publicspeaking.jpg

Cell Therapies and Stem Cells

• Cell therapies do not necessarily use stem cells

• Example:– Blood transfusion

• Donor blood is typed for ABO and Rh, processed, banked, and transfused into patients with the same blood type

• The most successful and widely-used cellular therapy

Graphic: http://blood.ca

Cell Therapies and Stem Cells

• Cell therapies do not necessarily use stem cells

• Examples:– Blood transfusions– Islets of Langerhans

Islets are isolated from the pancreas of a donor and transplanted into a patient to treat diabetes(Edmonton is an international leader in this area)

Image: http://www.keyvive.com/wp-content/userimages/1280326032Islet_Cell_Transplantation.jpg

Stem Cells

There are 3 general categories of stem cells:1. Embryonic

• Derived from human embryos• Controversial• Ethical challenges• Active research area, not in common use

Image: http://www.westhavennow.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/What-are-Embryonic-Stem-Cells.jpg

Stem Cells

There are 3 general categories of stem cells:1. Embryonic2. Non-embryonic (“adult”)

• Cells from a living person– e.g. hematopoietic stem cells in bone marrow transplants

• Cells from umbilical cord blood• Active research area• In common clinical use

Image: http://www.kumc.edu/images/stemcell/maturemarrow.jpg

Stem Cells

There are 3 general categories of stem cells:1. Embryonic2. Non-embryonic (“adult”)3. Induced pluripotent stem cells (IPS cells)

• Differentiated cells modified to express characteristics of stem cells

• Active research area• Emerging applications

Image: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/09/Induction_of_iPS_cells.svg/350px-Induction_of_iPS_cells.svg.png

Adult stem cell examples - 1Hematopoietic stem cells

(bone marrow)

Image: http://www.fareastgizmos.com/entry_images/0210/08/Hematopoietic_Stem_Cells-thumb-450x244.jpg

Adult stem cell examples - 1

Bone marrow transplantation is used to treat certain cancers of the blood or bone marrow, such as multiple myeloma or leukemia.

Image: http://www.fareastgizmos.com/entry_images/0210/08/Hematopoietic_Stem_Cells-thumb-450x244.jpg

Hematopoietic stem cells(bone marrow)

Adult stem cell examples - 1

• Treatment summary:– Patient is typed for specific characteristics related to

immunological rejection– An international search is conducted to find a living

donor with a good match• Using shared national registries of typed volunteer donors

– Cells are collected from the donor and shipped– The patient undergoes a specific treatment regimen,

then receives the transplant Image: http://www.fareastgizmos.com/entry_images/0210/08/Hematopoietic_Stem_Cells-thumb-450x244.jpg

Hematopoietic stem cells(bone marrow)

Adult stem cell examples - 1

• Registries– Most countries have national registries to

manage donors.

– The Canadian Blood Services’ OneMatch registry manages most Canadian donors and patients.

– Hema Quebec manages donors and patients in Quebec.

Bone marrow(allogeneic hematopoietic stem cells)

Adult stem cell examples - 2Autologous hematopoietic stem cells

Image: http://www.kancer.co.uk/images/autoglass.gif

Adult stem cell examples - 3

• After a baby is born and the umbilical cord is cut, there remains in the cord and the placenta, some of the baby’s blood.

• This blood, which is normally discarded with the placenta, contains a significant number of hematopoietic stem cells.

• These hematopoietic stem cells can be cryopreserved for storage, and later used for transplantation.

Umbilical cord blood

Image: http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/292/20/2453/embed/graphic-1.jpg

Umbilical cord blood – Public and Private Banking

• Public banking– Mothers donate the umbilical cord blood after birth– The cord blood is recovered, typed and cryopreserved– Cell characteristics are listed on international registries

• Private banking– The mother pays to recover and cryopreserve the cord

blood for future use– Cell characteristics are not typed or listed on registries– There are about 12 private banks in Canada

Adult stem cell examples - 3

• In March, 2011, the provincial and territorial ministries of health (except Quebec) provided funding for the Canadian Blood Services to create a national umbilical cord blood bank

• There will be several collection sites across the country

• There will be 2 processing/storage/distribution sites– one in Ottawa (2013)– the other in Edmonton (2014)

Umbilical cord blood

Tissues

• General process:– Cadaveric donors– Tissues recovered in an operating room– Processed and stored (mostly frozen)– Distributed to hospitals

• Donor tissues commonly transplanted include:– Bone for repair– Corneas to restore vision– Skin for severe burns– Heart valves, blood vessels– Some engineered tissues approaching routine use

Image: http://www.cbcp.info/images/pic-pillar-tissuebank.png

Tissues

• A proposal is before the provincial and territorial governments to create a national system for tissue banking (except Quebec)

• This would improve access to tissues for Canadians requiring transplants

• This would also reduce the cost of importing tissues from the USA

Image: http://www.cbcp.info/images/pic-pillar-tissuebank.png

Looking ahead

• Therapies utilizing living cells and tissues are increasingly begin used in treating patients

• Analytics will play an increasingly important role to:– define specific requirements for each patient– design and develop the appropriate biological modalities– monitor the patient to track the performance of the

grafted cells/tissues, and to improve procedures

• These developments require development of partnerships between the disciplines

Image: http://futureday.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/The_Eye_of_future.jpg