Scientific Advisor X-Therma Hercules, CA , California, United States
Abstract: Cryopreservation is crucial for off-the-shelf cell-based therapies, stabilizing the supply of vital products and supporting centralized manufacturing. Conventional cryopreservation involves the application of DMSO which can effectively preserve most cellular products, but can impair functional recovery in sensitive cells, induce mild to severe toxic effects in patients, and even in some cases cause chromosomal and epigenetic alterations.
Using DMSO-free cryoprotectants minimizes these risks, ensuring cell viability and functionality after thawing, and enable safer injectable therapies. In this study, we compared the effect of DMSO-free cryoprotectant XT-Thrive® (X-Therma Inc.) and DMSO-containing CryoStor®10 (CS10, Biolife Solutions) on bone marrow-derived (BM) MSCs expanded in serum-containing and serum-free medium. The BM-MSC cell viability after a pre-freeze incubation at room temperature showed that XT-Thrive® maintained a ~30% higher viability compared to CS10, even after extended incubation at room temperature for up to 24 h before freezing (~93% vs. ~61% viability). This was mirrored in a similar post-thaw 6 h incubation at room temperature, with a higher cell recovery and viability (~87% vs. ~63% viability). Furthermore, cells preserved in XT-Thrive® exhibited a ~2.5-fold expansion in serum-containing media when cultured in a monolayer and microcarrier format, similar to the expansion capabilities of CS10 (2.4 fold expansion). XT-Thrive® also showed improved cell expansion when the cells were cultured in microcarriers cultures in serum-free medium (XT-Thrive®: 2-fold vs CS10: 0.9-fold expansion) for 6-days.
These findings highlight XT-Thrive®s ability to support superior cell recovery, viability, and expansion, making it an effective, non-toxic and resilient solution for largescale manufacturing.
Funding Source: Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR)
