Nakamura, Takahiro and Yokoo, Seiichi and Bentley, Adams J. and Nagata, Maho and Fullwood, Nigel J. and Inatomi, Tsutomu and Sotozono, Chie and Yamagami, Satoru and Kinoshita, Shigeru (2016) Development of functional human oral mucosal epithelial stem/progenitor cell sheets using a feeder-free and serum-free culture system for ocular surface reconstruction. Scientific Reports, 6: 37173. ISSN 2045-2322
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
Ocular surface reconstruction (OSR) using tissue-engineered cultivated oral mucosal epithelial cell sheets (COMECS) is a promising newly developed treatment for patients with severe ocular surface disease. Until now, this technique has used exogenic and undefined components such as mouse-derived 3T3 feeder cells and fetal bovine serum. To minimize associated risks of zoonotic infection or transmission of unknown pathogens and so establish a safe and effective protocol for the next generation of treatment modality, we developed a novel technique for the COMECS protocol, using a feeder-free and serum-free (FFSF) culture system. Following this new protocol, COMECS exhibited 4-5 layers of well-stratified and differentiated cells, and we successfully produced functional COMECS that included holoclone-type stem cells. Immunohistochemistry confirmed the presence of markers for cell junction (ZO1, Desmoplakin), basement membrane assembly (Collagen 7, Laminin 5), differentiation (K13, K3), proliferation (Ki67) and stem/progenitor cells (p75) in the FFSF COMECS. When transplanted to the ocular surfaces of rabbits, the tissue survived for up to 2 weeks. This study represents a first step toward assessing the development of functional FFSF COMECS for safe and ideal OSR.