Human AB serum as an alternative to fetal bovine serum for endothelial and cancer cell culture

In vitro methods are widely used in biomedical research and industry, often reducing or replacing animal experiments. However, cell cultures are generally supplemented with fetal bovine serum (FBS), also known as fetal calf serum (FCS), to optimize cell growth. Concerns have been raised regarding both the method used to collect the serum from the donor fetus and the possibility of viral contamination of serum (van der Valk et al., 2004, 2010; Gstraunthaler, 2003; toldbod et al., 2003; Warncke et al., 2006; Brunner et al., 2010). thus, the replacement of FBS has become a desirable objective in the field of cell and tissue culture. Current approaches include the replacement of FBS by human platelet lysates, bovine milk growth factors, human umbilical cord blood, serum and plant extracts, among others (van der Valk et al., 2004; Bruserud et al., 2005; Clavreul et al., 2009; Kocaoemer et al., 2007; Rauch et al., 2011; tekkatte et al., 2011; Pazos et al., 2004; Gstraunthaler, 2003). Some of these approaches require special formulations to be developed for each cell type. A promising alternative for culture of human cells is the substitution of FBS with converted human AB serum (HABS), which is routinely tested for viral contamination. HABS supports the propagation of human osteoblasts, chondrocytes, and bone marrow cells (Munirah et al., 2008; Hankey et al., 2001; Yamamoto et al., 2003; Yamaguchi et al., 2002), as well as glioma and melanoma cancer cell lines (Clavreul et al., 2009; Pandolfino et al., 2010). these studies suggest that HABS may be a good candidate to replace FBS as a supplement for cell culture. We tested this using colorectal (Ht29), cervical (Hela-229), and breast (MCF 7) cancer cell lines routinely used in cancer research, as well as primary human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVeC) and human dermal microvascular endothelial cells (HuDMeC).