The Survey on Cellular and Engineered Tissue Therapies in Europe in 2013

Abstract

Following the coordinated efforts of five established scientific organizations, this report, the sixth of its kind, describes activity in Europe for the year 2013 in the area of cellular and engineered tissue therapies, excluding hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) treatments for the reconstitution of hematopoiesis. Three hundred eighteen teams from 31 countries responded to the cellular and engineered tissue therapy survey; 145 teams from 25 countries reported treating 2187 patients, while a further 173 teams reported no activity. Indications were musculoskeletal/rheumatological disorders (45%; 89% autologous), cardiovascular disorders (20%; 99% autologous), hematology/oncology, predominantly prevention or treatment of graft versus host disease (GvHD) and HSC graft enhancement, (19%; <1% autologous), neurological disorders (3%; 100% autologous), gastrointestinal disorders (2%; 32% autologous), and other indications (11%; 67% autologous). The majority of autologous cells (88%) were used to treat musculoskeletal/rheumatological (57%) and cardiovascular (27%) disorders, whereas allogeneic cells were used mainly for hematology/oncology (64%). The reported cell types were mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSC) (49%), HSC (28%), chondrocytes (11%), dendritic cells (2%), keratinocytes (1%), and others (9%). In 46% of the grafts, cells were delivered following ex vivo expansion, sorted in 17% of the reported cases and transduced in only 3%. Thirty three percent of treatments were delivered intravenously or intra-arterially, and of the remaining 67%, 37% used a membrane/scaffold, 28% a suspension, and 2% a gel. The data are compared to those previously collected to identify trends in a still unpredictably evolving field.