Aiming for Massive Expansion

T-cell and NK cell are used in many clinical trials as immunotherapy. Isolated from the pool of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), they are oftentimes genetically modified, such as the installation of chimeric antigen receptors, to gain additional functionalities.

Under the constrain of the finite lifespan of these primary cells (30-40 days for T cells and 15 days for NK cells, ref. 1 and ref. 2), it becomes necessary to optimize the culturing medium so that the engineered and expanded cells are sufficient for therapeutic regiments.

The serum-free culture system for T-cell and NK cell has been developed since 1987, and Albumin was found to be an indispensable substitute component of serum to promote cell growth (ref. 3). Statistical medium optimization also identified Albumin as a critical factor (ref. 4).

However, owing to its history as a by-product in the plasma fractionation process and its stickiness toward other plasma molecules, Albumin has long been considered to have untenable lot-to-lot variations.

The impurities on albumin would not only affect the lymphocyte cultures nutritionally but could possibly have pro-inflammatory or immunoregulatory effects (ref 5).

Why is deAlbumin™ Better?

In order to reduce performance variation, one might seek the use of recombinant albumin, but however, the result of such attempts are usually unsatisfactory, as the impurities profile of recombinant albumin is worse than the plasma-derived albumin, even though being more consistent.

At Albcura, our deAlbumin™ is formulated recombinant rHSA derived from yeast, on which all small molecules associated are stripped and re-associated from a defined recipe of such small molecules. In 5-day culture, deAlbumin™ can boost viable cell growth by 99% comparing to CDM without albumin.

Low endotoxin format is also available upon request.