Irvine Scientific Launches New Xeno-free Medium for Hematopoietic Progenitor Cell Culture

Irvine Scientific has announced another addition to its expanding line of products to support stem and immunological cell therapies with the introduction of PRIME-XV® Hematopoietic Cell Basal Medium. This new formulation follows other media in the PRIME-XV line as it is another serum-free, xeno-free basal medium that specifically supports robust expansion of hematopoietic progenitors while maintaining their multipotency, or functional properties needed for cell-based therapies.

Hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) give rise to all other blood cells, and therefore have therapeutic potential for the treatment of cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma, and non-malignant diseases such as sickle cell anemia or immune related disorders. However, to be effective there must be sufficient numbers of HSPCs that retain their progenitor cell properties, including self-renewal and multipotency, to provide successful therapies.

HSPCs are often obtained from the blood or bone marrow of donors and are rare (only 1 in 100,000 in peripheral blood cells and 1 in 10,000 in bone marrow). With numbers of cells in the 100’s of millions required for therapy the challenge has been obtaining sufficient numbers of HSPCs that maintain their progenitor cell properties to differentiate and mature into the various hematopoietic lineage cells needed for therapies.

“In ex vivo culture HSPCs tend to spontaneously differentiate over time making it difficult to obtain large numbers of multipotent cells,” explained Dr. Jessie Ni, Chief Scientific Officer, Irvine Scientific. “When supplemented with the appropriate cytokines, PRIME-XV Hematopoietic Cell Basal Medium is formulated to support robust expansion of cell numbers while maintaining high percentages of multipotent hematopoietic progenitor cells.”

Its serum-free, xeno-free formula reduces the risks of contamination associated with media containing serum or non-human, animal-derived components. PRIME-XV Hematopoietic Cell Basal Medium is manufactured using stringent raw material qualification and under Current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) for consistency, reliability and to make the move from research towards clinical applications.