Biobanking and Cryopreservation of Obstetrical Cell Sources for Cardiovascular Tissue Engineering: Implications for Future Therapies

Biobanks are central to translational research and have contributed to frequent advancements in our understanding and treatment of disease. As described by Watson et al., biobanks are collections of biospecimens and patient data. Biospecimens, for example, blood and body fluids, tissues, and their derivatives, collected for therapy and/or research are usually obtained from the public who become patients in the health-care system [1]. These patients donate biospecimens during hospitalization, which accrued by biobanks are processed and preserved in a variety of ways to support different research and/or, at a progressive rate, therapeutic applications. Annotation encompasses documentation of the biospecimens’ composition associated with the patient history, circumstance, cure, and outcome. To insure the integrity of the banked specimens, three criteria must be the following: (1) purity/authenticity, ideally confirmed before and after asservation; (2) assignment of patient history, which has to be updated with prospective hospitalization; and (3) constancy, including repeated sample validation and quality control [2–4]. Generally, if material is used for therapy, principles of current good manufacturing practices (cGMP) are applied for the entire process from collection to freezing, storage, transportation, and thawing of the material [5]. Sample purity and authenticity is essential to evade incorrect data or performance of the sample. Authenticity is usually determined by testing stable phenotypic or genotypic characteristics. The value of each collected sample is strongly reliant on the associated dataset, that is, the health history of the donor. Consequently, the database collection should be based on a health history with continuous updates. It is a serious concern as cell cultures and cell lines are known to undergo irreversible changes if cultured, especially in unproven maintenance media for long periods [6]. It is essential that biobanks sustain quality control to ensure that stored and distributed samples maintain their characteristics [7] (for protocols see [3]). The precise quality control procedure varies depending on the particular characteristics of the type of culture. This can be achieved through the adoption of working practices including establishment of master and working banks. These requirements have been outlined in best practice guidelines for culture collections such as ISBER’s “Best Practices for Repositories: Collection, Storage, Retrieval, and Distribution of Biological Materials for Research” [8].