New Method for Cell Cryopreservation

描述（申请人提供）：人骨髓（BM）、外周血干细胞（PBSC）和脐带血干细胞（CBSC）被广泛用于癌症治疗的移植。白血病患者通常接受非常高剂量的化疗和/或放射治疗，这会严重损害或破坏骨髓。BM、PBSC和CBSC的移植可以替代被这些治疗破坏的干细胞，健康的移植干细胞可以在体内恢复骨髓产生血细胞的能力。BM和PBSC是最常用的细胞类型，用于治疗白血病和淋巴瘤，以及多发性骨髓瘤和神经母细胞瘤等癌症（一种发生于未成熟神经细胞的癌症，主要影响婴儿和儿童）。迫切需要改进样品制备方法，以及骨髓和血液样品的长期储存和冷冻保存。在收获BM或收集PBSC和CBSC后，样品被处理和冷冻以保持活力直到移植。储存的血液样本经常出现细胞丢失和细胞结块等问题。随着移植数量的不断增加，公共和商业血库旨在提高细胞活力和冷冻保存后恢复的研究工作急剧增加。本研究将利用单细胞凝胶微滴（GMD）包封技术，开发一种提高低温保存后细胞活力和恢复的方法。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Human bone marrow (BM), peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC), and cord blood stem cells (CBSC) are widely used for transplantation in cancer treatment. Patients with leukemia often receive very high doses of chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy which severely damages or destroys bone marrow. Transplantation of BM, PBSC and CBSC can replace stem cells that were destroyed by these treatments and healthy, transplanted stem cells can then restore the ability of bone marrow to produce blood cells in vivo. BM and PBSC are the most frequently used cell types for treating leukemia and lymphoma, and cancers such as multiple myeloma and neuroblastoma (a cancer that arises in immature nerve cells which primarily affects infants and children). Improved methods for sample preparation, and long term storage and cryopreservation of bone marrow and blood samples are urgently needed. After harvesting BM or collecting PBSC and CBSC, samples are processed and frozen to maintain viability until transplantation. Stored blood samples often exhibit problems including cell loss and cell clumping. As the number of transplants continues to increase, research efforts by both public and commercial blood banks aimed at increasing cell viability and recovery after cryopreservation have increased dramatically. Using single cell gel microdrop (GMD) encapsulation technology, this research will develop a method for increasing cell viability and recovery after cryopreservation.