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Abstract
Introduction: Cell encapsulation technology has improved enormously since it was proposed 50 years ago. The advantages offered over other alternative systems, such as the prevention of repetitive drug administration, have triggered the use of this technology in multiple therapeutic applications.
Areas covered: In this article, improvements in cell encapsulation technology and strategies to overcome the drawbacks that prevent its use in the clinic have been summarized and discussed. Different studies and clinical trials that have been performed in several therapeutic applications have also been described.
Expert opinion: The authors believe that the future translation of this technology from bench to bedside requires the optimization of diverse aspects: i) biosafety, controlling and monitoring cell viability; ii) biocompatibility, reducing pericapsular fibrotic growth and hypoxia suffered by the graft; iii) control over drug delivery; iv) and the final scale up. On the other hand, an area that deserves more attention is the cryopreservation of encapsulated cells as this will facilitate the arrival of these biosystems to the clinic.
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the support in cell microencapsulation from “Grupo de Investigación Consolidado del Sistema Universitario” (No ref: IT428-10). Authors also wish to thank the intellectual and technical assistance from the platform for drug formulation, CIBER-BNN.
Declaration of interest
The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.
Notes
This box summarizes key points contained in the article.