Publicaciones científicas

Billion-Scale Expansion of Functional hiPSC-Derived Cardiomyocytes in Bioreactors Through Oxygen Control and Continuous Wnt Activation

12 mar 2025 | Revista: Advanced Science

Pedro Vicente 1 2, Lara R Inocêncio 1 2, Asier Ullate-Agote 3, Ana F Louro 1 2, João Jacinto 1 2, Beatriz Gamelas 1 2, Olalla Iglesias-García 3, Patxi San Martin-Uriz 4, Paula Aguirre-Ruiz 4, Gonzalo R Ríos-Muñoz 5 6 7, María Eugenia Fernández-Santos 6 7, Alain van Mil 8, Joost P G Sluijter 8, Felipe Prósper 9 4 10, Manuel M Mazo Vega 3 9, Paula M Alves 1 2, Margarida Serra 1 2


Abstract

Generation of upscaled quantities of human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CM), for therapeutic or testing applications, is both expensive and time-consuming. Herein, a scalable bioprocess for hiPSC-CM expansion in stirred-tank bioreactors (STB) is developed. By combining the continuous activation of the Wnt pathway, through perfusion of CHIR99021, within a mild hypoxia environment, the expansion of hiPSC-CM as aggregates is maximized, reaching 4 billion of pure hiPSC-CM in 2L STB. In particular, the importance of i) controlling the dissolved oxygen at 10% O2 to reduce reactive oxygen species production and upregulate genes involved in cell proliferation, resulting in higher expansion rates (tenfold) compared to normoxic conditions, and ii) maintaining constant power input per volume as a scale-up criteria is demonstrated. After expansion, hiPSC-CM further mature in culture, revealing more mature transcriptional signatures, higher sarcomere alignment and improved calcium handling. This new bioprocess opens the door to time- and cost-effective generation of hiPSC-CM.

CITA DEL ARTÍCULO Adv Sci (Weinh). 2025 Mar;12(11):e2410510. doi: 10.1002/advs.202410510. Epub 2025 Jan 23.

Nuestros autores

Asier Ullate Agote
Técnico de Investigación Bioinformático Grupo de Investigación en Hematología Traslacional
Dra. Olalla Iglesias García
Patxi San Martín Uriz
Investigador Asociado a Proyecto Grupo de Investigación en Hematología Traslacional
Paula Aguirre Ruiz