Trends and targets of various types of stem cell derived transfusable RBC substitution therapy: Obstacles that need to be converted to opportunity

A shortage of blood during the pandemic outbreak of COVID-19 is a typical example in which the maintenance of a safe and adequate blood supply becomes difficult and highly demanding. So far, human RBCs have been produced in vitro using diverse sources: hematopoietic stem cells (SCs), embryonic SCs and induced pluripotent SCs. The existing, even safest core of conventional cellular bioproducts destined for transfusion have some shortcoming in respects to: donor –dependency variability in terms of hematological /immunological and process/ storage period issues. SCs–derived transfusable RBC bioproducts, as one blood group type for all, were highly complex to work out. Moreover, the strategies for their successful production are often dependent upon the right selection of starting source materials and the composition and the stability of the right expansion media and the strict compliance to GMP regulatory processes. In this mini-review we highlight some model studies, which showed that the efficiency and the functionality of RBCs that could be produced by the various types of SCs, in relation to the in-vitro culture procedures are such that they may, potentially, be used at an industrial level. However, all cultured products do not have an unlimited life due to the critical metabolic pathways or the metabolites produced. New bioreactors are needed to remove these shortcomings and the development of a new mouse model is required. Modern clinical trials based on the employment of regenerative medicine approaches in combination with novel large-scale bioengineering tools, could overcome the current obstacles in artificial RBC substitution, possibly allowing an efficient RBC industrial production.