Method for expanding immune cells
AssigneeKing's College London
InventorsJoana F. Neves, Geraldine M. Jowett, Isabelle Coales
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Abstract
This invention relates to a method for expanding immune cells, the method comprising co-culturing the immune cells and at least one epithelial organoid, wherein the epithelial organoid comprises more epithelial cells than mesenchymal cells. Also provided are immune cells obtainable by the method, an in vitro population of innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) comprising at least 5×103 ILCs, pharmaceutical compositions and uses thereof.
Claims35
A method for expanding immune cells, the method comprising:
- (a) co-culturing the immune cells and at least one epithelial organoid, wherein the epithelial organoid comprises more epithelial cells than mesenchymal cells.
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the epithelial organoid does not comprise a detectable level of mesenchymal cells.
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the method comprises before step (a) a step of depleting mesenchymal cells from the epithelial organoid.
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the epithelial organoid is a human or murine epithelial organoid.
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the epithelial organoid is derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs).
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the epithelial organoid is a skin, intestinal, lung, thymic, thyroid, reproductive, bladder, kidney, pancreas, oral mucosal or liver organoid.
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the epithelial organoid is an intestinal epithelial organoid or lung epithelial organoid.
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the immune cells are haematopoietic stem cells and/or lymphoid precursor cells.
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the immune cells comprise a plurality of different immune cell subsets, optionally ILCs from a plurality of different ILC groups.
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the method is for the production and expansion of immune cells and wherein the method comprises before step (a):
- co-culturing immune cell precursors and the at least one epithelial organoid to expand the immune cell precursors and differentiate the immune cell precursors into the immune cells.
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the immune cells are primary immune cells.
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the immune cells are human immune cells.
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the immune cells and the at least one epithelial organoid are co-cultured for at least about 72 hours.
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the immune cells expand at a rate of at least 2 fold every 24 hours.
An in vitro population of innate lymphoid cells (ILCs), wherein the population comprises at least 5×103 ILCs.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.