Primary Choroid Plexus Tissue for Use in Cellular Therapy

The choroid plexus (CP) has been explored as a cellular therapeutic due to its broad-ranging secretome and demonstrated longevity in a variety of encapsulation modalities. While the CP organ is normally involved in disease repair processes in the brain, the range of indications that could potentially be ameliorated with exogenous CP therapy is widespread, including diseases of the central nervous system, hearing loss, chronic wounds, and others. The CP can be isolated from animal sources and digested into a highly purified epithelial culture that can withstand encapsulation and transplantation. Its epithelium can adapt to different microenvironments, and depending on culture conditions, can be manipulated into various three-dimensional configurations with distinct gene expression profiles. The cocktail of proteins secreted by the CP can be harvested in culture, and purified forms of these extracts have been evaluated in topical applications to treat poorly healing wounds. When encapsulated, the epithelial clusters can be maintained for extended durations in vitro with minimal impact on potency. A treatment for Parkinson's disease utilizing encapsulated porcine CP has been developed and is currently being evaluated in a Phase I clinical trial. The current chapter serves to summarize recent experience with CP factor delivery, and provides a description of the relevant materials and methods employed in these studies.