Xenogeneic-free culture of human intestinal stem cells on functional polymer-coated substrates for scalable, clinical-grade stem cell therapy

The need for basement membrane extract (BME) with undefined constituents, such as Matrigel, for intestinal stem cell (ISC) culture in traditional systems poses a significant barrier that must be overcome for the development of clinical-grade, scalable, ready-to-use ISCs. Here, we propose a functional polymer-based xenogeneic-free dish for the culture of intestinal stem cells (XF-DISC), ensuring substantially prolonged maintenance of ISCs derived from 3-dimensional human intestinal organoids (ISCs 3D-hIO ). XF-DISC enables remarkable expandability, exhibiting a 24-fold increase in cell numbers within 30 days, with long-term maintenance of ISCs 3D-hIO for more than 30 consecutive passages (>210 days). In addition, XF-DISC is fully compatible with a cell banking system. Notably, human pluripotent stem cell-derived ISCs 3D-hIO cultured on XF-DISC are successfully transplanted into intestinal injury and inflammation mouse models, leading to engraftment and regeneration of damaged mouse intestinal epithelium. As a reliable and scalable xenogeneic-free ISC 3D-hIO culture method, XF-DISC is highly promising for the development of regenerative ISC therapy for human intestinal diseases. Methods to culture intestinal stem cells (ISCs) are often limited by undefined culture conditions arising from the use of basement membrane extracts or feeder cell layers. Here, the authors propose a polymer-based xenogeneic-free dish to culture stem cells, ensuring extended maintenance of ISCs derived from 3D human intestinal organoids.