Hollow-fibre affinity cell separation

The developing fields of cell and tissue engineering will require cost-effective technologies for delivery of cells to patients. Hollow-fibre affinity cell separation is a monoclonal antibody-based cell separation process whereby monoclonal antibody (ligand) is immobilised onto a stationary substrate, the luminal surface of a parallel array of hollow fibres. Deposited cells are fractionated on the basis of adhesion strength using hollow fibre geometry that generates a well-defined shear stress for cell recovery. In this chapter we present the biophysical basis for the process of ligand-mediated cell adhesion and relate this to the performance of affinity cell separation. We also discuss the hydrodynamics of hollow fibre arrays and the various approaches for modifying polymer substrates with protein ligands. One of the major limiting factors for large-scale epitope selective cell separation will be the prohibitive cost of these affinity processes. Hollow fibre systems offer the promise of providing flexibility and scalability for many of these applications.