Stem Cell Production to be Validated Aboard ISS

A pathfinder spaceflight investigation designed to validate stem cell production aboard the ISS is being undertaken by BioServe Space Technologies at the University of Colorado Boulder and Sierra Space.

“This experiment is a precursor to what Sierra Space one day envisages—orbiting microgravity factories that enable the next breakthroughs in human health care."

Tom Vice, Sierra Space

The mission is targeted for launch from Wallops Flight Facility no earlier than August 1 at 8:31 p.m. EDT, and is one of 20 ISS National Lab-sponsored payloads. The project is being done in partnership with researchers from the Mayo Clinic (Jacksonville, Florida) and ClinImmune on the University of Colorado Medical Campus.

When grown on Earth, hematopoietic stem cells lose their multipotency (ability to become many types of blood cell types), which is not optimal for patient recovery. Previous research conducted by the Mayo Clinic indicates that mesenchymal stem cells (stem cells that develop into a variety of cell types, including bone, cartilage, and fat cells) produced in space could have greater potency than their terrestrial counterparts. Building on this research, the current stem cell production study aims to expand a population of hematopoietic stem cells that retain their multipotent ability, making the cells better able to restore blood and immune function in patients treated for cancer. The experiment will fly to the space station on Northrup Grumman’s 19th Commercial Resupply Services mission.

Chemotherapy is a common type of cancer treatment that targets cancer cells but can also destroy healthy cells, which could lead to life-threatening complications. To help replenish healthy blood and immune cells, doctors can transplant hematopoietic stem cells from a healthy donor’s bone marrow or blood into a matched recipient.

“When patients receive bone marrow transplants or other stem cell therapies, the transplanted cells are from other individuals,” said Louis Stodieck, principal investigator for the project with BioServe. “And when you take cells or tissues from one human and put it in another human, you may get an undesirable immune system response. This can take the form of transplant rejection or graft versus host disease in a patient who had a hematopoietic stem cell transplant.”

Stem Cell Production in Microgravity Could Reduce Risk of Rejection

To reduce the risk of rejection and disease, clinicians use hematopoietic stem cells obtained from donated umbilical cord blood. This blood, which is collected immediately after the umbilical cord is cut when a baby is born, contains hematopoietic stem cells at an earlier stage of development than those from adult blood or bone marrow. Because these cells are closer in nature to embryonic stem cells, there is a lower risk of complications. However, stem cell transplants require large numbers of cells to be effective, and it is challenging to obtain enough umbilical cord blood stem cells for effective treatment.

Microgravity could help solve this problem by providing an improved environment for stem cell expansion. If there were a way to mass-produce multipotent hematopoietic stem cells in space, more patients could receive cord blood stem cell transplants, said Sierra Space CEO Tom Vice.

“Approximately every nine minutes, a family loses a loved one to leukemia, lymphoma, or myeloma. If we can mass produce hematopoietic stem cells by using the unique microgravity environment of space, I think about the transformational impact we will have on patients and their families,” Vice said. “This experiment is a precursor to what Sierra Space one day envisages—orbiting microgravity factories that enable the next breakthroughs in human health care that will have a profound impact on the quality of life and longevity of millions of people here on Earth.”

BioServe and the research team will send stem cell samples from multiple umbilical cord blood donors to look for beneficial differences during the cell growth experiment. The stem cell samples will be frozen at different time points while in orbit and then sent back to Earth for analysis.

Sierra Space is developing low Earth orbit (LEO) infrastructure capabilities such as the Dream Chaser space plane and the LIFE (Large Integrated Flexible Environment) Habitat that will support commercial in-space cellular therapeutic manufacturing. This stem cell production pathfinder study is part of a larger project led by BioServe to develop a stem cell expansion bioreactor for use in LEO for eventual cellular therapeutic manufacturing in space. Future spaceflight investigations are being planned with the project partners to demonstrate the potential for in-space production.

(Source: ISS National Laboratory news release. Images provided and from file)