ABSTRACT
Hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) cultures have generated intense clinical, commercial, and academic interest due to their potential applications in cell-based therapies, including genetic, cellular and tissue engineering, transfusion support, and immunotherapy. In addition, HSC cultures have proved useful for leukemia and cancer cell purging and serving as models for drug efficacy, toxicity, and pathogenicity testing, as well as a tool for discovering and elucidating the roles of the many factors modulating hematopoietis. However, there still exist numerous problems to overcome and new methodologies to develop in order to achieve the consistent, controlled, and reproducible growth of clinically relevant numbers of HSCs and their derivatives so that this technology can expand its, for now, limited applicability. This chapter will focus on the essential bioprocess parameters involved in controlling the complex kinetics encountered in the ex vivo hematopoietic cell cultures, including cell source, the desired characteristics of the cultured cells, and culture conditions, including media, scaffolds, and bioreactors, for the development of clinically desirable ‘‘designer transplants’’ (1).
