Studies on Conditioned Media in Human Cells: Evaluation Using Various Cell and Culture Conditions, Animal Disease Models

In the last several decades, cell therapy research has increased worldwide. Many studies have been conducted on cell therapy, and have revealed that transplanted cells did not survive for long, and implanted cells remained inactive causing immune rejection depending on the patient's condition. Therefore, studies on cell-free therapy need to be conducted. To overcome these limitations, an alternative is the use of supernatant from cells, called "conditioned media (CM)." During in vitro cell culture, culture media supply nutrients to maintain cell characteristics and viability. In the culture, cells not only consume nutrients but also release beneficial proteins and substances, which are called "secretome." CM from cells can be stored for a long time and is easy to handle. Moreover, secretome in CM can also be measured; exact amount of secretome is important to set the standard value for disease treatment. Here, we reviewed studies on CM and confirmed that various secretomes from CM were identified in these studies. Moreover, these findings could benefit cell and animal studies in future. In conclusion, CM could be a potential candidate for an alternative to cell therapy.