Combined mild hypoxia and bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells improve expansion and HOXB4 gene expression of human cord blood CD34+ stem cells

Abstract

Cord blood (CB) is a rich source of hematopoietic stem cells (HSC). It has been used successfully to treat a variety of hematological and non-hematological disorders. Beside the advantages of CB, its main disadvantages are the limited number of stem cells available for transplantation and delayed engraftment. Identifying strategies to enhance expansion and self-renewal of HSCs can improve transplantation efficiency. The aim of this study was to examine different culture conditions on ex vivo expansion and homeobox protein Hox-B4 gene (HOXB4) expression in cord blood CD34+ stem cells. Human cord blood CD34+ HSC were cultured in serum-free medium supplemented with cytokines with and without a feeder layer in normoxia (21% O2) and mild hypoxia (5% O2). At the end of 7 days of culture, the highest number of total nucleated cells (TNC), CD34+ cells, colony forming units (CFUs) and HOXB4 mRNA were observed in a co-culture of HSC with a bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell(MSC) feeder layer at 5% O2.We concluded that the combination of bone marrow (BM)-MSC and mild hypoxia (5% O2) not only improved HSC expansion but also enhanced HOXB4 gene expression as a self-renewal marker of HSC, and better mimicked the niche microenvironment conditions.