Microbiological safety of a novel bio-artificial liver support system based on porcine hepatocytes: a experimental study

European Journal of Medical Research

Yi-tao Ding³  Zhong-ze Gu²  Jia-jun Tan¹  Hao-zhen Ren¹  Jiang-qiang Xiao¹  Jin-yang Gu³  Xue-hui Chu³  Yue Zhang³  Xiao-lei Shi³  Bing Han³ 

[1] Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, the Affiliated DrumTower Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School, Number 321 Zhongshan Road, Nanjing 210008, China;State Key Laboratory of Bioelectronics, Southeast University, Nanjing 210008, China;Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, DrumTower Clinical Medical College of Nanjing Medical University, Number 321 Zhongshan Road, Nanjing 210008, China

关键词: Mesenchymal stem cells;    Porcine hepatocyte;    Bio-artificial liver;    Porcine endogenous retrovirus;    Microbiological safety;   

Others  :  820282
DOI  :  10.1186/2047-783X-17-13

 received in 2011-11-29, accepted in 2012-05-25,  发布年份 2012

【 摘 要 】

Background

Our institute has developed a novel bio-artificial liver (BAL) support system, based on a multi-layer radial-flow bioreactor carrying porcine hepatocytes and mesenchymal stem cells. It has been shown that porcine hepatocytes are capable of carrying infectious porcine endogenous retroviruses (PERVs) into human cells, thus the microbiological safety of any such system must be confirmed before clinical trials can be performed. In this study, we focused on assessing the status of PERV infection in beagles treated with the novel BAL.

Methods

Five normal beagles were treated with the novel BAL for 6 hours. The study was conducted for 6 months, during which plasma was collected from the BAL and whole blood from the beagles at regular intervals. DNA and RNA in both the collected peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and plasma samples were extracted for conventional PCR and reverse transcriptase (RT)-PCR with PERV-specific primers and the porcine-specific primer Sus scrofa cytochrome B. Meanwhile, the RT activity and the in vitro infectivity of the plasma were measured.

Results

Positive PERV RNA and RT activity were detected only in the plasma samples taken from the third circuit of the BAL system. All other samples including PBMCs and other plasma samples were negative for PERV RNA, PERV DNA, and RT activity. In the in vitro infection experiment, no infection was found in HEK293 cells treated with plasma.

Conclusions

No infective PERV was detected in the experimental animals, thus the novel BAL had a reliable microbiological safety profile.

【 授权许可】

   
2012 Han et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

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