EELS-TALC

Enriched with Essentials and Lapped in Scaffold Transplant-suitable Autologous Leveraged Chondrocytes

A novel value-added human chondrocyte cell therapy technology wherein the cells grown have several advantages to be of use in clinical therapies such as Autologous Chondrocyte Implantation (ACI) and Matrix Associated Chondrocyte Implantation (MACI) for hyaline cartilage repair in knee joint problems.

Some of the advantages of the EELS TALC technology are

  1. Hyaline Chondrocytes could be cultured without use of feeder layers or growth factors - Yasuda A et al. In vitro culture of chondrocytes in a novel thermoreversible gelation polymer scaffold containing growth factors. Tissue Eng. 2006 May;12(5):1237-45.

  2. Human chondrocytes could be grown in vitro for longer duration of time with maintenance of hyaline phenotype. Arumugam S, et al. In vitro expansion and characterization of human chondrocytes using a novel Thermoreversible Gelation Polymer (TGP). J.Orthopaedics 2011;8(3)e3.

  3. The in vitro cultured human hyaline chondrocytes could be transplanted in animal models of cartilage damage and post-transplantation the cartilage tissue could maintain the hyaline phenotype for longer duration of time. Arumugam S et al. Transplantation of autologous chondrocytes ex-vivo expanded using Thermoreversible Gelation Polymer in a rabbit model of articular cartilage defect. Journal of Orthopedics 2017: 14(2);223–25

  4. Chondrocytes which were grown from knee cartilage tissue of elderly with severe osteoarthritis using the EELS TALC for 18 weeks in vitro were positive for pluripotent cell markers. Katoh S, et al. Articular chondrocytes from osteoarthritic knee joints of elderly, in vitro expanded in thermo-reversible gelation polymer (TGP), exhibiting higher UEA-1 expression in lectin microarray. Regen Ther. 2020;14:234-237.

  5. When grown using the technology the chondrocytes grow as a tissue in vitro rather than individual cells without fibroblast de-differentiation. Katoh S, et al. Articular chondrocytes from osteoarthritic knee joints of elderly, in vitro expanded in thermo-reversible gelation polymer (TGP), exhibiting higher UEA-1 expression in lectin microarray. Regen Ther. 2020;14:234-237.

  6. The cells tissue-engineered in vitro using EELS TALC have been shown to enhance the resident chondroprogenitors and mesenchymal stem cells - Katoh S, et al. A three-dimensional in vitro culture environment of a novel polymer scaffold, yielding chondroprogenitors and mesenchymal stem cells in human chondrocytes derived from osteoarthritis-affected cartilage tissue. J Orthop. 2021 Jan 16;23:138-141.

  7. The EELS TALC platform helps retain Hyaluronic acid (HA) which is an essential component for homeostasis and regeneration of the cartilage and helps support the chondrocytes to grow with a tissue like architecture expressing higher HA content Katoh S, et al. Enhanced expression of hyaluronic acid in osteoarthritis-affected knee-cartilage chondrocytes during three-dimensional in vitro culture in a hyaluronic-acid-retaining polymer scaffold. The Knee 2020; 29 : 365-73.

  8. The EELS TALC enhances microRNA (miRNA) 140 expression in the tissue engineered chondrocytes. miRNA 140 is a critical factor promoting homeostasis of chondrocytes and its downregulation is directly associated with osteoarthritis. Katoh S et al. Enhanced miRNA-140 expression of osteoarthritis-affected human chondrocytes cultured in a polymer based three-dimensional (3D) matrix. Life Sciences 2021 (In print)

  9. 3D tissue engineered cartilage using EELS-TALC exhibited lower expression of aging (senescence)-associated markers such as senescence-associated beta-galactosidase (SA-βgal), p16INK4a and p21 yielding an advantageous reversal of aging of human chondrocytes without any genomic modifications Katoh, S., et al. Reversal of senescence-associated beta-galactosidase expression during in vitro three-dimensional tissue-engineering of human chondrocytes in a polymer scaffold. Sci Rep 2021; 11: 14059.