Review Article

Xeno-Free Strategies for Safe Human Mesenchymal Stem/Stromal Cell Expansion: Supplements and Coatings

Table 3

Xeno-free supplements for cell culture.

Human blood derivativesNot human origin
Human serum (HS)Human platelet lysate (hPL)Human umbilical cord serum (hUCS)Human plasma fractions (supplement for cell culture (SCC))Chemically defined media (CD)

Advantages
No ethical problemsNo ethical problemsNo ethical problemsNo ethical problemsNo ethical problems
No risk of xenogenic compound transmissionNo risk of xenogenic compound transmissionNo risk of xenogenic compound transmissionNo risk of xenogenic compound transmissionNo risk of xenogenic compound transmission
Easy and inexpensive procedureContains high level of GFEasy and inexpensive procedureGMP compliant: compatible with pharmaceutical grade advanced therapiesNo risk of transmission of human diseases
Contains high level of GF and proteins (transferrin, albumin, and fibronectin)Little batch to batch variability (derived from an industrial plasma pool constituted from over 1000 donations)
Easy-available allogenic sourceProvides cell growth and attachment factors
Lyophilized: convenient for transport and storage

Disadvantages
Variability between individual donationsVariability between individual donationsVariability between individual donationsOngoing: further investigation will help to a better characterizationCell specific
Possibility of transmission of human diseasesPossibility of transmission of human diseasesPossibility of transmission of human diseasesIll-defined because it lacks of information provided by the companies
Low availability in terms of amount of donationLow availability in terms of amount of donationLow availability in terms of amount of donationDevelopment may be expensive and time consuming
Discrepancy of results in allogenic settingsNot well defined composition in terms of GF contentCell-adaptation may be necessary
Quality in autologous settings may not be idealQuite laborious and expensive procedure
Often requires the addition of cytokines and GF