A stimulator of murine haemopoietic stem cell proliferation produced by human fetal liver cells.

Abstract

Normal murine bone marrow was incubated with medium conditioned by liver cells from human fetuses of 11-17 weeks gestational age. This treatment increased the proportion of murine haemopoietic stem cells (CFU-S) which were synthesizing DNA from less than 10% to more than 30%. The human fetal liver cell supernatants were fractionated using Amicon filters to obtain nominal molecular weight ranges of 10-30,000, 30-50,000 and 50-100,000 daltons. The stimulator was present only in the 30-50,000 dalton fraction. When human fetal liver cells were separated by adherence to plastic, medium conditioned by the adherent, but not the non-adherent, cells produced the stimulator. A population of non-cycling GM-CFC was not switched into cycle during incubation with this CFU-S proliferation stimulator. Human fetal livers of all gestational ages tested contain a specific stimulator of CFU-S proliferation. This appears to have properties similar to that demonstrated in murine fetal liver and regenerating murine bone marrow. Human and murine haemopoietic stem cell proliferation may therefore be regulated by similar mechanisms.