Dataset Information

Cytokine-Induced Killer (CIK) Cells, In Vitro Expanded under Good Manufacturing Process (GMP) Conditions, Remain Stable over Time after Cryopreservation.

ABSTRACT: Cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells are advanced therapy medicinal products, so their production and freezing process has to be validated before their clinical use, to verify their stability as a drug formulation according to the good manufacturing practice (GMP) guidelines. We designed a stability program for our GMP-manufactured CIK cells, evaluating the viability, identity and potency of cryopreserved CIK cells at varying time periods from freezing, and compared them with fresh CIK cells. We evaluated the effects of the cryopreservation method, transportation, and the length of time of different process phases (pre-freezing, freezing and post-thawing) on the stability of CIK cells. This included a worst case for each stage. The expanded CIK cells were viable for up to 30 min from the addition of the freezing solution, when transported on dry ice within 48 h once frozen, within 60 min from thawing and from 12 months of freezing while preserving their cytotoxic effects. The reference samples, cryopreserved simultaneously in tubes and following the same method, were considered representative of the batch and useful in the case of further analysis. Data obtained from this drug stability program can inform the accurate use of CIK cells in clinical settings.

SUBMITTER: Mareschi K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7281026 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Cytokine-Induced Killer (CIK) Cells, In Vitro Expanded under Good Manufacturing Process (GMP) Conditions, Remain Stable over Time after Cryopreservation.

Mareschi Katia K Adamini Aloe A Castiglia Sara S Rustichelli Deborah D Castello Laura L Mandese Alessandra A Leone Marco M Pinnetta Giuseppe G Mesiano Giulia G Ferrero Ivana I Fagioli Franca F

Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) 20200512 5

Cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells are advanced therapy medicinal products, so their production and freezing process has to be validated before their clinical use, to verify their stability as a drug formulation according to the good manufacturing practice (GMP) guidelines. We designed a stability program for our GMP-manufactured CIK cells, evaluating the viability, identity and potency of cryopreserved CIK cells at varying time periods from freezing, and compared them with fresh CIK cells. We ...[more]

PMID: 32408620

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Project description:Cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells are an immunotherapeutic approach to combat relapse following allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) in acute leukemia or myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) patients. Prompt and sequential administration of escalating cell doses improves the efficacy of CIK cell therapy without exacerbating graft vs. host disease (GVHD). This study addresses manufacturing-related issues and aimed to develop a time-, personal- and cost-saving good manufacturing process (GMP)-compliant protocol for the generation of ready-for-use therapeutic CIK cell doses starting from one unstimulated donor-derived peripheral blood (PB) or leukocytapheresis (LP) products. Culture medium with or without the addition of either AB serum, fresh frozen plasma (FFP) or platelet lysate (PL) was used for culture. Fresh and cryopreserved CIK cells were compared regarding expansion rate, viability, phenotype, and ability to inhibit leukemia growth. Cell numbers increased by a median factor of 10-fold in the presence of FFP, PL, or AB serum, whereas cultivation in FFP/PL-free or AB serum-free medium failed to promote adequate CIK cell proliferation (p < 0.01) needed to provide clinical doses of 1 × 106 T cells/kG, 5 × 106 T cells/kG, 1 × 107 T cells/kG, and 1 × 108 T cells/kG recipient body weight. CIK cells consisting of T cells, T- natural killer (T-NK) cells and a minor fraction of NK cells were not significantly modified by different medium supplements. Moreover, neither cytotoxic potential against leukemic THP-1 cells nor cell activation shown by CD25 expression were significantly influenced. Moreover, overnight and long-term cryopreservation had no significant effect on the composition of CIK cells, their phenotype or cytotoxic potential. A viability of almost 93% (range: 89-96) and 89.3% (range: 84-94) was obtained after freeze-thawing procedure and long-term storage, respectively, whereas viability was 96% (range: 90-97) in fresh CIK cells. Altogether, GMP-complaint CIK cell generation from an unstimulated donor-derived PB or LP products was feasible. Introducing FFP, which is easily accessible, into CIK cell cultures was time- and cost-saving without loss of viability and potency in a 10-12 day batch culture. The feasibility of cryopreservation enabled storage and delivery of sequential highly effective ready-for-use CIK cell doses and therefore reduced the number of manufacturing cycles.

Project description:Recent advances in instrumentation have moved analytical ultracentrifugation (AUC) closer to a possible validation in a Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) environment. In order for AUC to be validated for a GMP environment, stringent requirements need to be satisfied; analysis procedures must be evaluated for consistency and reproducibility, and GMP capable data acquisition software needs to be developed and validated. These requirements extend to multiple regulatory aspects, covering documentation of instrument hardware functionality, data handling and software for data acquisition and data analysis, process control, audit trails and automation. Here we review the requirements for GMP validation of data acquisition software and illustrate software solutions based on UltraScan that address these requirements as far as they relate to the operation and data handling in conjunction with the latest analytical ultracentrifuge, the Optima AUC by Beckman Coulter. The software targets the needs of regulatory agencies, where AUC plays a critical role in the solution-based characterization of biopolymers and macromolecular assemblies. Biopharmaceutical and regulatory agencies rely heavily on this technique for characterizations of pharmaceutical formulations, biosimilars, injectables, nanoparticles, and other soluble therapeutics. Because of its resolving power, AUC is a favorite application, despite the current lack of GMP validation. We believe that recent advances in standards, hardware, and software presented in this work manage to bridge this gap and allow AUC to be routinely used in a GMP environment. AUC has great potential to provide more detailed information, at higher resolution, and with greater confidence than other analytical techniques, and our software satisfies an urgent need for AUC operation in the GMP environment. The software, including documentation, are publicly available for free download from Github. The multi-platform software is licensed by the LGPL v.3 open source license and supports Windows, Mac and Linux platforms. Installation instructions and a mailing list are available from ultrascan.aucsolutions.com.

Project description:Cytokine Induced Killer (CIK) cells are heterogeneous ex vivo expanded T lymphocytes with mixed T-NK phenotype and endowed with a wide MHC-unrestricted antitumor activity against both solid and hematologic malignancies. CIK cells can be easily ex vivo expanded up to clinical relevant rates from circulating peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), according to a standard protocol involving timed stimulation with IFN- γ (day 0), Ab-antiCD3 OKT3 (day 1) and IL-2 (from day 1 to the end). Nowadays literature provides scanty information on cytokines, chemokines and growth factors secreted by CIK cells. A comprehensive molecular profiling of CIK cells is needed to complete the knowledge of their biologic and functional features. In this perspective we performed a gene expression profile analysis of basal PBMC and ex vivo expanded CIK cells generated from 3 patients with histologic confirmed Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors (GIST). The principal component analysis (PCA) shows that the CIK cell samples clustered together and were clearly separated from PBMC ones. First, we checked the mRNA expression levels of secreted proteins and we found a significant upregulation of GM-CSF, IL-5, IL-13, and IFN-γ in CIK cells. Moreover, IL-1Ra, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-10, IL-15, IL-8, Eotaxin and MCP-1 are downregulated in CIK cells if compared to PBMC. Noteworthy, among differentially expressed genes (DEGs) we identified other secreted molecules that are upregulated in patient-derived CIK cells, which can contribute to their tumor killing activity: GZMA, GZMB, GZMK, PRF1, IL-32, and LTA. Furthermore, to better characterize the CIK cell phenotype, we studied the surface antigen expression. As expected, we found the downregulation of several myeloid differentiation markers (CD14, CD9, CD93, CSF2RA, CSF2RB, EPB41L3, Receptors for Fc fragments of immunoglobulins, ITGAX, MCEMP1, and TREM1) and B-cell antigens (CD19, CD24, CD79A, CXCR5, and MS4A1). Moreover, microarray data confirmed the upregulation in CIK cells of well-known surface antigens, like CD3D, CD3G, IL2Ra, IL2RG, CD226/DNAM1, ITGAL/LFA-1, KLRK1/NKG2D, NCR3/NKp30, and TRAIL/TNFSF10. Next, in order to identify differentially expressed pathways during CIK cells maturation, we performed a functional analysis by using Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) software. Among inactivated functions in CIK cells, we found chemotaxis of myeloid cells, phagocytosis, migration of granulocytes and engulfment of leukocytes. Noteworthy, functional gene categories as proliferation of cells, cell death of lymphocytes, cell death of mononuclear leukocytes, apoptosis of B lymphocytes, and quantity of CD4+ T-lymphocytes resulted activated, in agreement with the selection and expansion of CIK cell precursors induced by in vitro treatment of PBMC. Finally, IPA analysis predicted as activated categories cytotoxicity of lymphocytes, cytotoxicity of cells, and cytotoxicity of natural killer cells. In particular, genes involved in cytotoxic mechanism of CIK cells like NCR3/NKp30, KLRK1/NKG2D, TRAIL/TNFSF10, CD226/DNAM1, CD244, CD69, CD96, GZMA, GZMB, PRF1 are differentially expressed. With this work we highlighted previously unknown secretory properties and provided for the first time a comprehensive molecular characterization of CIK cells, opening the possibility to operate on secretory level to improve CIK cell cytotoxic activity against tumors.

Dataset Information

Cytokine-Induced Killer (CIK) Cells, In Vitro Expanded under Good Manufacturing Process (GMP) Conditions, Remain Stable over Time after Cryopreservation.

Publications

Cytokine-Induced Killer (CIK) Cells, In Vitro Expanded under Good Manufacturing Process (GMP) Conditions, Remain Stable over Time after Cryopreservation.

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