Editorial: Advanced cell culture technologies to boost cell-based therapies, volume II

Approved cells and cellular products (i.e., extracellular vesicles) for cell-based therapy applications carry a huge promise for the treatment of a broad variety of diseases and several (stem) cell therapies. However, the therapeutic potential of cells is not fully exploited at present. On the one hand, outdated culture conditions are still used during in vitro cultivation. On the other hand, technological hurdles block the way to efficient and safe cell-based therapy products. Traditional cell culture conditions do not represent the physiological conditions of the cellular native environment (Yamada et al., 2022). Conventional extensive 2D in vitro mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) expansion, aimed at obtaining clinically relevant therapeutic cell numbers, results in detrimental effects on both cellular characteristics (e.g., phenotypic changes and senescence) and functions (e.g., differentiation capacity and immunomodulatory effects)