Aspects of recent advances in Cryptosporidium in vitro cultivation

Abstract

This review summarizes major Cryptosporidium cultivation efforts from the past 8 years. While advanced three-dimensional and stem cell-derived culture platforms support the full developmental life cycle, including sexual reproduction and second-generation oocysts, they are limited by low oocyst yields and restricted continuous passaging. Additionally, although several new platforms share similar concepts, most have not been independently reproduced or validated outside their original laboratories, and optimization has focused mainly on C. parvum . Addressing these challenges in yield, scalability and reproducibility is critical to enable high-throughput drug screening and advance therapeutic discovery for cryptosporidiosis.