Title | Artificial thymus_ a tissue engineering strategy |
Publication Type | Conference Abstract -ISI Web of Science Indexed |
Year of Publication | 2015 |
Authors | Costa-Pinto A. R., Serre-Miranda C., Cerqueira-Rodrigues B., Martins A., Alves da Silva M. L., Correia-Neves M., and Neves N. M. |
Abstract | The thymus is the central organ responsible for the generation of T lymphocytes (1). Various diseases cause the thymus to produce in- sufficient T cells, which can lead to immune-suppression (2). Since T cells are essential for the protection against pathogens, it is crucial to promote de novo differentiation of T cells on diseased individuals. The available clinical solutions are: 1) one protocol involving the transplant of thymic stroma from unrelated children only applicable for athymic children (3); 2) for patients with severe peripheral T cell depletion and reduced thymic activity, the administration of stimu- lating molecules stimulating the activity of the endogenous thymus (4). A scaffold (CellFoam) was suggested to support thymus regen- eration in vivo (5), although this research was discontinued. Herein, we propose an innovative strategy to generate a bioartificial thymus. We use a polycaprolactone nanofiber mesh (PCL-NFM) seeded and cultured with human thymic epithelial cells (hTECs). The cells were obtained from infant thymus collected during pediatric cardio-tho- racic surgeries. We report new data on the isolation and characterization of those cells and their interaction with PCL-NFM, by expanding hTECs into relevant numbers and by optimizing cell seeding methods. |
Journal | Tissue Engineering Part A |
Volume | 21 |
Pagination | S-1-S-413 |
Date Published | 2015-09-09 |
Publisher | Mary Ann Libert |
DOI | 10.1089/ten.tea.2015.5000.abstracts. |
Keywords | Biomaterials, Stem cells, Thymus |
Rights | restrictedAccess |
Peer reviewed | yes |
Status | published |