Methods of determining the suitability of cultured thymus tissue for implantation into humans and associated methods of use

A method of producing an allogeneic cultured postnatal thymus tissue-derived product suitable for implantation into a human, comprising the steps of:

• (a) slicing the donor thymus into slices, placing the donor thymus slices on a support structure, and culturing the donor thymus tissue slices in a thymus organ medium for a period of from about 6 days to about 21 days to produce partially T-cell depleted donor thymus tissue slices;
• (b) detecting the level of CCL21 in the thymus organ medium during the culturing step and comparing the level of CCL21 to a baseline level determined at day 0 of the culturing step;
• and
• (c) if the level of CCL21 is increased as compared to the baseline level and if the thymus tissue slices show areas positive for cytokeratin (CK) staining, the presence of at least one Hassall body, and the presence of intact nuclei of thymic epithelial cells and other stromal cells, recovering the partially T-cell depleted donor thymus tissue slices as the allogeneic cultured postnatal thymus tissue-derived product suitable for implantation.