MOLECULAR DISCRIMINATION OF CULTURED ANNULUS FIBROSUS AND NUCLEUS PULPOSUS CELLS USING NOVEL CELL IDENTITY MARKERS FOR TISSUE-TARGETED INTERVERTEBRAL DISC CELL THERAPY

Introduction Cell-based therapies become more and more prominent for the treatment of intervertebral disc (IVD) injuries. Different strategies are under current development and address the restoration of either annulus fibrosus (AF) or nucleus pulposus (NP). Application of such Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMPs) is strictly regulated. One requirement is to show the identity of the cells, to make sure the cells are indeed AF or NP cells and retained their IVD cell character during manufacturing process before injection to the site of injury. Therefore, we recently identified novel marker genes that discriminate AF and NP cells on tissue level. However, expression of these AF and NP tissue markers has not been investigated in cultured cells, yet. The aim of this study was to proof the tissue marker”s specificity to discriminate cultured AF and NP cells. Furthermore, we evaluated the tissue markers robustness to different cell culture conditions. Materials & Methods AF and NP tissue was obtained fro...