Clinical use of pancreatic beta islets for regenerative medicine
applications requires mass production of functional cells. Current
technologies are insufficient for large-scale production in a
cost-efficient manner. Here, we evaluate advantages of a porous
cellulose scaffold and demonstrate scale-up to a wicking-matrix
bioreactor as a platform for culture of human endocrine cells. Scaffold
modifications were evaluated in a multi-well platform to find the
optimum surface condition for pancreatic cell expansion followed by
bioreactor culture to confirm suitability. Preceding scale-up, cell
morphology, viability and proliferation of primary pancreatic cells were
evaluated. Two optimal surface modifications were chosen and evaluated
further for insulin secretion, cell morphology and viable cell density
for human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived pancreatic cells at
different stages of differentiation. Scale-up was accomplished with
uncoated, amine-modified cellulose in a miniature bioreactor, and
insulin secretion and cell metabolic profiles were determined for 13
days. We achieved 10-fold cell expansion in the bioreactor along with a
significant increase in insulin secretion compared with cultures on
tissue-culture plastic. Our findings define a new method for expansion
of pancreatic cells on wicking-matrix cellulose platform to advance cell
therapy biomanufacturing for diabetes.