The Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA), Kyoto University, has announced the construction of a master cell bank (MCB)¹ from the CiRA iPS Cell Stock for Regenerative Medicine² with Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (Takeda).

The MCB construction is part of the Takeda-CiRA Joint Program for iPS Cell Applications (T-CiRA), a large scale collaboration between CiRA and Takeda that aims to apply iPS cell technologies for treatment of multiple diseases. The MCB will provide a stable supply of clinical-grade iPS cells for two T-CiRA projects, heart failure and uncontrolled type I diabetes.

For iPS cells to reach their clinical potential, a stable source of iPS cells is needed. Accordingly, CiRA started the iPS Cell Stock Project in 2013. This project provides iPS cells of high quality for clinical use. The creation of MCBs is a necessary step for this provision.

"The construction of master cell banks demonstrates important progress made toward clinical applications of iPS cell technology in our T-CiRA collaboration." said Seigo Izumo, Global Head of Regenerative Medicine Unit of Takeda.

CiRA Director Shinya Yamanaka remarked, "Through T-CiRA, we have been working with Takeda on new clinical applications using iPS cells. This project is an important step toward that goal. We at CiRA are dedicated to improve iPS cell production and quality control."

1. A MCB means an aliquot of a single pool of cells which is generally made from the selected single cell line under defined conditions, dispensed into multiple containers and stored under defined conditions.
2. The CiRA iPS Cell Stock for Regenerative Medicine (The iPS Cell Stock Project) is preparing and storing multiple iPS cell lines for clinical application. Each line is made by reprogramming cells from healthy donors who are human leukocyte antigen (HLA) homozygous. The use of HLA homozygous donors expands the number of people who can receive the cells in a therapy without a severe immune reaction.