3D Printed porous polyamide macrocapsule combined with alginate microcapsules for safer cell-based therapies

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 8; no. 1; pp. 8512 - 14
• Main Authors: Saenz del Burgo, Laura, Ciriza, Jesús, Espona-Noguera, Albert, Illa, Xavi, Cabruja, Enric, Orive, Gorka, Hernández, Rosa María, Villa, Rosa, Pedraz, Jose Luis, Alvarez, Mar
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 31-05-2018; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 14/34; 631/61/2297; 639/166/985; 692/54; 82/51; Alginates - chemistry; Alginic acid; Animals; Capsules - chemistry; Cell Survival; Cell- and Tissue-Based Therapy; Cells, Immobilized - cytology; Cells, Immobilized - metabolism; Cells, Immobilized - transplantation; Cricetinae; Drug Compounding - methods; Erythropoietin; Erythropoietin - metabolism; Fibroblasts; Fibroblasts - cytology; Fibroblasts - metabolism; Fibroblasts - transplantation; Genetic engineering; Humanities and Social Sciences; Mice; Microcapsules; Microencapsulation; multidisciplinary; Myoblasts; Myoblasts - cytology; Myoblasts - metabolism; Myoblasts - transplantation; Nylons - chemistry; Polyamides; Porosity; Printing, Three-Dimensional; Rapid prototyping; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Tissue Scaffolds - chemistry; Vascular endothelial growth factor; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A - metabolism
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-26869-5

Cell microencapsulation is an attractive strategy for cell-based therapies that allows the implantation of genetically engineered cells and the continuous delivery of
de novo
produced therapeutic products. However, the establishment of a way to retrieve the implanted encapsulated cells in case the treatment needs to be halted or when cells need to be renewed is still a big challenge. The combination of micro and macroencapsulation approaches could provide the requirements to achieve a proper immunoisolation, while maintaining the cells localized into the body. We present the development and characterization of a porous implantable macrocapsule device for the loading of microencapsulated cells. The device was fabricated in polyamide by selective laser sintering (SLS), with controlled porosity defined by the design and the sintering conditions. Two types of microencapsulated cells were tested in order to evaluate the suitability of this device; erythropoietin (EPO) producing C
2
C
12
myoblasts and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) producing BHK fibroblasts. Results showed that, even if the metabolic activity of these cells decreased over time, the levels of therapeutic protein that were produced and, importantly, released to the media were stable.