Cell Micro-encapsulation for Cancer and Diabetes Therapy

Prof. Marcelle Machluf

Lab of cancer drug delivery & cell based technologies

Cell microencapsulation is a fundamental technique in cell-based therapy allowing continuous delivery of biologic drugs. In the prestigious journal, Nature Biotechnology (2001), we reported an alginate-encapsulation cells system, designed to deliver anti-angiogenic biologic drugs, which led to significant inhibition of glioblastoma tumors. Since then, we mainly focus on the development of new encapsulation platforms which will facilitate the prospective clinical application of this cell-based therapy approach. These include polymeric system comprising alginate and chitosan, exhibiting superior mechanical properties and biocompatibility a system which releases anti-inflammatory drugs along with the therapeutic protein and a system for encapsulation of transfected mesenchymal stem cells secreting antiangiogenic proteins for the treatment of solid tumors. In addition, we developed a process to create microcapsules from solubilized decellularized extracellular matrix (ECM), from different origins. These microcapsules provide the cells with a more natural and supportive microenvironment than conventional alginate microcapsules, which dramatically improve cell function. read more