Optimization of the rocking speed and angle of a perfusion bioreactor for T cell culture

The Xuri Cell expansion W5 bioreactor enables the culture of T cells to high cell densities in an automated and closed system, making it an attractive option for the manufacture of T cells for adoptive cell therapy. Using bioreactor settings of 10 rpm rocking speed at a 6 angle, cell concentrations of greater than 1 10 cells/mL are consistently reached in a 1L volume. In the study presented here, we investigate the influence of rocking speed and angle on the cell growth kinetics in order to identify those settings that optimize T cell growth, thereby allowing for faster expansion. Studies, with rocking speed varying between 2 rpm and 18 rpm and angle varying between 2 and 9 , were conducted over a 14 day culture period. The growth kinetics of experiments was compared in terms of fold expansion. Following data analysis, it was predicted that the optimum conditions for cell growth were 15 rpm at 6 and this was subsequently tested experimentally. A comparative experiment between a Xuri W5 system rocking at (10 rpm; 6 ) and another one rocking at (15 rpm; 6 ) was carried out over 10 days. The viable cell number obtained at day 10 with the platform rocking at 15 rpm was 24% higher than that of the instrument rocking at 10 rpm, confirming improved cell growth kinetics at 15 rpm.