Abstract
Stem cell therapy holds the promise for numerous degenerative diseases and injuries. Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) are the starting cell population for many of these potential therapies since they are capable of seemingly indefinite proliferation in the pluripotent state and have the ability to differentiate into all cell types found in the adult. It is vital that the cellular therapeutics derived from these highly proliferative cells are well characterized prior to clinical use and the assays used to characterize these cellular products are well developed. At the Center of Biomedicine and Genetics (CBG), we have manufactured under cGMP numerous hESC-differentiated products including neuron stem cells (NSC), neuronal progenitor cells (NPC), retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells, dopaminergic neurons and cardiomyocytes intended for pre-clinical and early phase clinical studies. We have developed a systematic approach to characterize hESC-derived cell products using well developed technologies such as real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and flow cytometry. We have standardized the development and qualification of each assay which involves the selection and banking of positive and negative controls, selection and banking of critical reagents, determination of assay conditions, qualification of assay, generation of assay qualification report and standard operating procedure (SOP). In addition, we have established a general guideline to assist the selection of appropriate markers for different products. Here we describe the application of this systematic approach to develop and qualify identity and purity assays for hESC-derived cardiomyocytes produced through hESC differentiation procedure in suspension culture. Selection of markers for the characterization of cardiomyocyte products will be discussed, and development and qualification of the assays will be reported.
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