Reproducible differentiation of pure ovarian support cells from clinical-grade hiPSCs as a novel infertility treatment
In vitro maturation (IVM) is an infertility treatment used during in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures in which immature oocytes are matured outside the body, limiting the excessive hormone doses required for retrieval of ready-to-fertilize oocytes. To overcome the historically low embryo formation rate associated with IVM, we have recently demonstrated that co-culture of hiPSC-derived ovarian support cells (OSCs) yielded higher rates of oocyte maturation and euploid embryo formation, by mimicking the complex ovarian environment in vitro, offering a novel solution to overcome the IVM main limitation. To translate this process into clinics, we sourced and engineered a compliant female clinical-grade (CG) hiPSC line to derive OSCs with similar quality attributes and clinical outcomes to results previously demonstrated with a research hiPSC line. We further optimized our manufacturing protocols to enable increased scale and substituted reagents with appropriate higher-quality alternatives. This strategic approach to product development has successfully met scalable manufacturing needs and ultimately resulted in a product of improved reproducibility, purity, and efficacy. Our findings support the use of a similar strategy to fine-tune hiPSC-derived products facilitating translation to clinical applications.