Enumeration and gentle sorting of immune cells on chip, key to next generation advanced therapies in outpatient setting

Background: A thorough understanding of immune-oncology and molecular medicine has been vital in the development of cell therapeutics. At the basis of this translational research and its future implementation into a medicinal product, lies the availability of pure and viable cell populations. Currently, FACS and magnetic bead isolation are successfully used but suffer to fulfill all requirements. FACS is costly and difficult to upscale due to the limitation of shear stress, especially fragile, cells can handle. Therefore, magnetic bead isolation is often used as it is gentler, but it lacks the multiparametric aspect to isolate more complex cellular profiles.

Aims: We aim to develop a versatile technology able of multi marker detection and isolation of complex cell types with high purity, viability and throughput.

Methods: We have developed a gentle sorting mechanism based on a jet flow created by micro vapor bubbles, enabling a closed microfluidic cell isolation platform capable of multiparametric sorting with high viability, purity and throughput. In this work we compared the purity, recovery and viability of sorted CD4+ CD14- cells to magnetic isolation, most often used for other cell manufacturing approaches. Futhermore, we cultured the sorted cells of both isolation strategies and compared their growth curve and expression of activation-induced IL2 and IFN-γ.

Results: We demonstrate that this tool can achieve a pure population of CD4+ CD14- cells with high viability after sorting without compromising the recovery. On top of the viability also the growth and activation potential of sorted cells is unhampered by comparison to the benchmark gentle magnetic isolation.

Conclusions: Our technology allows for the development of a compact system which sets it apart from other efforts intended to create automated cell therapeutic solutions.