Disclosed are treatment methods, protocols, and compositions of matter useful for treatment of kidney failure. The invention discloses, in one embodiment, administration of immune cells that have been reprogrammed by co-culture with regenerative cells. In one embodiment said regenerative cells are umbilical cord derived mesenchymal stem cells and said immune cells are peripheral blood mononuclear cells. In one embodiment cells are cultured together in the presence of interleukin 2 and/or an mTOR inhibitor. In one embodiment said cells are cultured together in the presence of an anti-CD3 and/or anti-CD28 antibody.

A method enhances hematopoietic reconstitution and recovery after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, which is based on the administration of estetrol to the subject that has undergone the transplantation, because estetrol induced an increment in the percentage of hematopoietic cells derived from transplanted donor cells in the recipient. Additionally, estetrol increases the donor contribution in the hematopoietic stem cell compartment. A method also increases the number of hematopoietic progenitor or stem cells in a culture, based as well in the addition of estetrol to the culture. As the obtained hematopoietic progenitor or stem cells can also be transplanted, the method increases the availability of donor cells for transplantation. Thus, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is improved in patients.

The present disclosure relates to methods and compositions for expansion of human hematopoietic stem cells. The present disclosure also relates to methods of treatment involving the use of the expanded HSCs.

This disclosure relates to growth media and environments for in vitro culturing of cells that produce or are capable of producing antibodies. In certain embodiments, the media comprises IL-6, fibronectin, and typically a saccharide. In certain embodiments, the disclosure contemplates cell culture compositions comprising IL-6 and fibronectin that are derived from proteins secreted from mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (MSCs). In certain embodiments, the disclosure contemplates enclosures comprising culture compositions disclosed herein that are in ambient air or optionally in an environment wherein oxygen is absent or at a low concentration.

Disclosed are methods, means and compositions of matter useful for treatment of heart failure, and/or post infarct pathological remodeling using ex vivo reprogrammed immune cells. In one embodiment, cells of the recipient (autologous) are cocultured with a regenerative cell population alone or in the presence of one or more adjuvants. Said adjuvants enhance transfer of regenerative activity from said mesenchymal stem cells to said immune cells. In one embodiment said ex vivo reprogrammed immune cells are capable of inducing death or inactivation of cardiac fibrotic cells. In other embodiments, said immune cells provide antifibrotic activity to induce suppression of cardiac fibrosis. In other embodiments, said immune cells provide for growth factors to enhance cardiac regeneration.

The present disclosure provides a method for preparing a platelet lysate for use in the culture of cells collected from an individual. More specifically, the present disclosure provides a method for preparing a platelet lysate for use in the culture of cells collected from an individual, in which the method includes a step for freeze-thawing platelets collected from the individual or an equivalent of the platelets to produce a platelet lysate, and does not include a step for carrying out decomplementation. In some embodiments, the platelets or the equivalent thereof may be freeze-thawed one or several times.

An ex vivo generated population of tissue-specific alternatively-activated macrophages and methods of making and using such macrophages for treating orthopedic injury are provided.

The present invention provides a means for reconstituting tissues and organs having mature functions. A method of preparing a tissue or an organ, comprising coculturing an organ cell with a vascular endothelial cell and a mesenchymal cell, generating an organ bud, transplanting the organ bud into a non-human animal, and then isolating from the non-human animal the transplanted organ bud-derived tissue or organ.

Spheroid microtissues that can mimic native tissue-like structure and function, spheroid production methods that are high-throughput, suitable for efficient production, maintainable over long-term culture, and/or offer repeatable control over size distribution. Spheroids that have blood vessels, including spheroids with functional, blood-perfused vascular networks upon injection in vivo. Dissolvable hydrogel microwell arrays for high throughput parallel formation of spheroids in a single pipetting step and easy retrieval for downstream applications. A method to produce prevascularized microtissues in sufficient numbers to form a macrotissue in vivo for therapeutic purposes. This method is based on sacrificial release of dissolvable microwell templates, a novel and scalable strategy which enables gentle harvesting of microtissues with control over size and composition. The method forms microtissues containing endothelial cells and mesenchymal stem cells, which are co-cultured under dynamic conditions and self-organize into blood-vessel units.

The invention relates to a method of producing CD34.sup.+CD41.sup.dim megakaryocyte (MK) progenitor cells, and a substantially pure cell population of megakaryocyte precursor cells obtained by said method and compositions thereof. The invention also relates to a method of producing proplatelet-bearing MKs and/or platelets using the CD34.sup.+CD41.sup.dim cells.