Hematopoietic Progenitor Cell Activity Research Articles

Peculiarities of the influence of recombinant cytokines on the functional activity of hematopoietic progenitor cells in myelodysplastic syndrome in vitro

Populations of hematopoietic progenitor cells are the closest descendants of stem cells. It is at their level that the processes of proliferation and differentiation occur, since they are sensitive, unlike stem cells, to the action of cytokines, which are released in the event of a shortage of blood cells in the periphery. However, for a long time the role of hematopoietic progenitor cells in the implementation of the pathological process in disorders of hematopoiesis was underestimated, while now it has turned out to be more significant than previously thought. This is especially true of myelodysplastic syndrome, which, despite its name, is a clonal disease that precedes acute leukemia. The purpose of the study was to determine the peculiarities of the functioning of hematopoietic progenitor cells in normal and impaired hematopoiesis at the initial stages of the malignant process of MDS (MDS-IB) under the conditions of exposure to different concentrations of cytokines to assess the hematopoietic potential of these cells. Their colony-forming activity (CFU) was studied in two groups of patients — control (10 people) and experimental (20 people) in culture in vitro. It was found that CFU increases with increasing concentration of cytokines and requires twice as much stimulus when culturing hematopoietic cells from patients with MDS-IB. The optimal concentration in the control for G-CSF, GM-CSF, IL-3 was 20 ng/ml, and for cells from patients with MDS-IB — 40 ng/ml. It has been proven that in the case of using a complex of cytokines (GM-CSF, G-CSF, IL-3), the colonyforming ability of progenitor cells from patients with MDS-IB increases significantly, compared to such indicators for cytokines acting alone (28.7±3.2 to 18.3±1.8, 12.1±1.5 and 24.5±2.1, respectively). The paper reveals the latent potential for cell proliferation from patients with MDS-IB, which can be used both in experimental studies and in the creation of protocols for the treatment of patients with MDS in the initial stage of the disease.

Osteoregenerative Potential of 3D-Printed Poly ε-Caprolactone Tissue Scaffolds In Vitro Using Minimally Manipulative Expansion of Primary Human Bone Marrow Stem Cells.

The repair of orthopedic and maxillofacial defects in modern medicine currently relies heavily on the use of autograft, allograft, void fillers, or other structural material composites. This study examines the in vitro osteo regenerative potential of polycaprolactone (PCL) tissue scaffolding, fabricated via a three-dimensional (3D) additive manufacturing technology, i.e., a pneumatic micro extrusion (PME) process. The objectives of this study were: (i) To examine the innate osteoinductive and osteoconductive potential of 3D-printed PCL tissue scaffolding and (ii) To perform a direct in vitro comparison of 3D-printed PCL scaffolding with allograft Allowash® cancellous bone cubes with regards to cell-scaffold interactions and biocompatibility with three primary human bone marrow (hBM) stem cell lines. This study specifically examined cell survival, cell integration, intra-scaffold cell proliferation, and differentiation of progenitor cells to investigate the potential of 3D-printed PCL scaffolds as an alternative to allograft bone material for the repair of orthopedic injuries. We found that mechanically robust PCL bone scaffolds can be fabricated via the PME process and the resulting material did not elicit detectable cytotoxicity. When the widely used osteogenic model SAOS-2 was cultured in PCL extract medium, no detectable effect was observed on cell viability or proliferation with multiple test groups showing viability ranges of 92.2% to 100% relative to a control group with a standard deviation of ±10%. In addition, we found that the honeycomb infill pattern of the 3D-printed PCL scaffold allowed for superior mesenchymal stem-cell integration, proliferation, and biomass increase. When healthy and active primary hBM cell lines, having documented in vitro growth rates with doubling times of 23.9, 24.67, and 30.94 h, were cultured directly into 3D-printed PCL scaffolds, impressive biomass increase values were observed. It was found that the PCL scaffolding material allowed for biomass increase values of 17.17%, 17.14%, and 18.18%, compared to values of 4.29% for allograph material cultured under identical parameters. It was also found that the honeycomb scaffold infill pattern was superior to the cubic and rectangular matrix structures, and provided a superior microenvironment for osteogenic and hematopoietic progenitor cell activity and auto-differentiation of primary hBM stem cells. Histological and immunohistochemical studies performed in this work confirmed the regenerative potential of PCL matrices in the orthopedic setting by displaying the integration, self-organization, and auto-differentiation of hBM progenitor cells within the matrix. Differentiation products including mineralization, self-organizing "proto-osteon" structures, and in vitro erythropoiesis were observed in conjunction with the documented expression of expected bone marrow differentiative markers including CD-99 (>70%), CD-71 (>60%), and CD-61 (>5%). All of the studies were conducted without the addition of any exogenous chemical or hormonal stimulation and exclusively utilized the abiotic and inert material polycaprolactone; setting this work apart from the vast majority of contemporary investigations into synthetic bone scaffold fabrication In summary, this study demonstrates the unique clinical potential of 3D-printed PCL scaffolds for stem cell expansion and incorporation into advanced microstructures created via PME manufacturing to generate a physiologically inert temporary bony defect graft with significant autograft features for enhanced end-stage healing.

Функціональна активність гемопоетичних клітин-попередників кордової крові у довготривалій культурі на гідрогелевій підложці in vitro

Development of new and improvement of existing models of long-term cultivation of hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) and cord blood progenitor cells is one of the most important directions in modern cell biology, related to obtaining a sufficient amount of hematopoietic tissue for experimental and clinical use. The aim of the work was to investigate the functional activity of hematopoietic progenitor cells from cord blood during long-term cultivation on a soft polyacrylamide gel substrate in the presence of a cytokine complex and to determine the advantages of this method of maintaining hematopoiesis for further use in transplantation. To realize this purpose, the following methods were used: the method of long-term cultivation in vitro on a hydrogel substrate, the method of colony formation in semi-liquid agar, cytological research methods, light and inverted microscopy, statistical research methods. Due to the use of the hydrogel substrate together with the cytokine complex, a high proliferative activity of hematopoietic cells is observed, which is reflected in their expansion during long-term cultivation (5 weeks), as well as of high colony-forming activity (521.5 ± 7.5.105 per explanted cells). Thus, the stiffness of the substrate must be taken into account for the expansion of stem cells and their immediate descendants. The presence of a soft substrate made of polyacrylamide gel along with a complex of cytokines ensures the expansion of hematopoietic cells due to the long- term support of hematopoiesis.

The ability of bone marrow progenitor cells to form colonies in ex vivo culture of MDS patients

The results of in vitro hematopoiesis studies have provided most of the knowledge about the organization, regulation, and development of the human hematopoietic system over the past three to four decades. However, due to the impossibility of an appropriate assessment of hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) in humans and because of the shortcomings of methodological approaches to determining the role of hematopoietic progenitor cells in the pathogenesis of MDS and to predicting the course of the pathological process, semiliquid agar cultures of bone marrow from patients with myelodysplastic syndrome were used. Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) refers to a clinically, morphologically, and genetically heterogeneous group of diseases characterized by clonalism and arising from mutations at the level of hematopoietic progenitor cells. Proliferation of such a mutated stem cell progenitors leads to ineffective maturation of myeloid lineage cells and dysplastic changes in the bone marrow (BM). The aim of the study was to establish the relationship between the functional activity of hematopoietic progenitor cells in the ex vivo culture and the activity of the pathological process in the myelodysplastic syndrome. We studied bone marrow samples from patients with the myelodysplastic syndrome, namely refractory anemia with excess blasts I (MDS RAEB I) and refractory anemia with excess blasts II (MDS RAEB II) and AML under conditions in vitro, as well as their clinical laboratory data. It was found that the percentage of blasts and myeloblasts in the samples of patients with AML and MDS RAEB II increased, compared to the samples of patients with MDS RAEB I (63.5±3.9 %, 18.05±1.01 % and 9.49±1.53 % respectively). An increase in the number of erythrocytes and hemoglobin content was noted in the group of patients with MDS RAEB I compared with MDS RAEB II (2.9±1.4×1012 / l and 105.04±3.6 g / l versus 9±0.8×1012 / l and 84.5±4.8 g / l, respectively). The analysis of the results of BM studies of patients with MDS in in vitro culture indicated a significant lag in the formation of cell aggregates during cultivation and a pronounced inhibition of the colony-forming ability of progenitor cells, compared to the control. A noticeable decrease in the colony-forming ability was observed in patients with MDS RAEB I, MDS RAEB II and AML in this sequence – 4.1±1.2 per 1×105 explanted cells, 3.2±0.9 per 1×105 explanted cells and 2.0±0.6 per 1×105 explanted cells, respectively. The analysis of hematological parameters and the results of BM cells cultivation at different stages of MDS indicates that the colony-forming ability of progenitor cells correlates with the depth of the pathological process.

Effects of Glucan Supplementation on Aged Hematopoietic Progenitor Cells

Age related changes in activity of hematopoietic progenitor cells led us to investigate the possibility that glucan supplementation might overcome this suppression. In our study, we focused on differences of these cells in young (8 weeks old) and old (18 months old) mice after supplementation of yeast-derived insoluble glucan. Our results showed significant differences in reconstitution ability of progenitor cells as well as changes in level of stromal cell-derived factor 1α between young and old mice exist and can be partly restored by glucan supplementation.

Effects of Glucan Supplementation on Aged Hematopoietic Progenitor Cells

Age related changes in activity of hematopoietic progenitor cells led us to investigate the possibility that glucan supplementation might overcome this suppression. In our study, we focused on differences of these cells in young (8 weeks old) and old (18 months old) mice after supplementation of yeast-derived insoluble glucan. Our results showed significant differences in reconstitution ability of progenitor cells as well as changes in level of stromal cell-derived factor 1α between young and old mice exist and can be partly restored by glucan supplementation.

Functional activity of animal bone marrow cells after their treatment with nanocomplexes

Background. Previously, the antitumor activity of nanocomplexes (NCs) containing nanoparticles of rare earth metal orthovanadates GdYEuVO4 and cholesterol has been approved when applied in 9:1 ratio (the cells-to-NCs), which can be considered as a conditionally therapeutic dose. Therefore, studying the potential risks of NCs exposure in terms of functional activity of hematopoietic progenitor cells is relevant.
 Рurpose – determining a toxic effect of NCs on functional activity of hematopoietic cells of bone marrow (BM).
 Materials and Methods. The study was performed in BM cells of CBA/H mice. Nanocomplexes were synthesized at Institute for Scintillation Materials of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. BM cells with NCs were incubated in the ratios as follows: 9BM:1NCs; 1BM:1NCs; 1BM:9NCs, followed by assessing the number of apoptotic/necrotic cells in BM using FITC Annexin V Apoptosis Detection Kit I (BD, USA) by means of “FACS Calibur” flow cytometer (“BD”, USA). Hematopoietic progenitor cells of BM were functionally evaluated in vivo by determining the content of colony-forming units of the spleen (CFUs) and the number of myelokaryocytes in lethally irradiated recipients on day 8 after administering BM cells, pre-incubated with NCs. Survival of irradiated recipient mice after BM administration was recorded 12 days long.
 Results and discussion. The dose-dependent effect of functional potential in- hibition for BM hematopoietic progenitor cells under NCs influence has been established. Although, in vitro processing the BM cells with a conditionally therapeutic dose of NCs (9BM:1NCs) before administration to irradiated animal caused remodeling of cell membranes and contributed to apoptotic manifes- tations, but it did not lead to strong changes in their colony-forming potential and did not reduce the number of BM cells in animals if compared with the introduced BM cells without NCs treatment. Increasing the NCs concentration five- and tenfold significantly reduced the colony-forming potential of BM cells, caused BM hypoplasia and a crucial reduction in the survival of recipient animals, indicating possible toxic effects of this compound when administered at high concentrations.
 Conclusions. The toxic effect of NCs is detected only when certain concen- trations, significantly exceeding the conditionally therapeutic dose previously determined when treating the experimental oncology diseases, are used.

Ectopic bone formation in severely combat-injured orthopedic patients — A hematopoietic niche

Combat-related heterotopic ossification (HO) has emerged as a common and problematic complication of modern wartime extremity injuries, contributing to substantial patient morbidity and loss of function. We have previously reported that HO-forming patients exhibit a more pronounced systemic and local inflammatory response very early in the wound healing process. Moreover, traumatized muscle-derived mesenchymal progenitor cells from these patients have a skewed differentiation potential toward bone. Here, we demonstrate that HO lesions excised from this patient population contain highly vascularized, mature, cancellous bone containing adipogenic marrow. Histologic analysis showed immature hematopoietic cells located within distinct foci in perivascular regions. The adipogenic marrow often contained low numbers of functional erythroid (BFU-E), myeloid (CFU-GM, CFU-M) and multilineage (CFU-GEMM) colony-forming hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs). Conversely, tissue from control muscle and non-HO traumatic wound granulation tissue showed no evidence of hematopoietic progenitor cell activity. In summary, our findings suggest that ectopic bone can provide an appropriate hematopoietic microenvironment for supporting the proliferation and differentiation of HPCs. This reactive and vibrant cell population may help maintain normal hematopoietic function, particularly in those with major extremity amputations who have sustained both massive blood loss, prompting systemic marrow stimulation, as well as loss of available native active marrow space. These findings begin to characterize the functional biology of ectopic bone and elucidate the interactions between HPC and non-hematopoietic cell types within the ectopic intramedullary hematopoietic microenvironmental niche identified.

Aortic Tissue as a Niche for Hematopoiesis

The stem cell theory of hematopoiesis predicts that all mature blood cell lineages circulating in the bloodstream or resident in tissues arise via a hierarchy of hematopoietic progenitor cell (HPC) intermediates that are ultimately derived from hematopoietic stem cells (HSC). In the adult human, bone marrow–resident HSC and HPC generate billions of circulating blood cells daily, ranging from the short-lived neutrophils and platelets to long-lived B and T lymphocytes and monocyte macrophages. Recent interest in the roles of macrophages as modulators of angiogenesis1 and as participants in atheroma formation2 highlight the need to better understand the mechanisms of recruitment and retention of macrophages and their progenitor precursors within tissues. In this issue of Circulation , Psaltis and colleagues3 identify clonogenic HPC activity in aortic adventitia (that is enriched in HPC compared with peripheral blood or muscle tissue), which appears skewed toward colony-forming unit-macrophage (CFU-M) differentiation. In addition, stem cell antigen-1–expressing cells in the aortic adventitia coexpressed a variety of HSC antigens, and adoptive transfer of these cells into irradiated recipient mice led to low but sustained multilineage reconstitution, a property of HSC. Although bone marrow (BM)–derived donor hematopoietic cells reconstituted the aorta of lethally irradiated animals, the majority of aorta-derived CFU-M appeared to be constitutive or long term residents of the vessel wall (with sustained but only partial replacement from donor BM cells), suggesting that either the aortic adventitial microenvironment imparts specific differentiation properties to marrow-derived precursors or that a local origin for HSC/HPC exists in the adult vasculature. Is there any evidence to suggest that HSC/HPC may originate and/or migrate through the aortic adventitia? Article see p 592 Hematopoiesis occurs in a site- and tissue-specific pattern that varies throughout mammalian development. The first blood cells (including macrophages) arise in the extraembryonic yolk sac, and the yolk …

STAT3-dependent IL-21 production from T helper cells regulates hematopoietic progenitor cell homeostasis

AbstractThe contribution of specific cell types to the production of cytokines that regulate hematopoiesis is still not well defined. We have previously identified T cell–dependent regulation of hematopoietic progenitor cell (HPC) numbers and cycling. In this report, we demonstrated that HPC activity is decreased in mice with STAT3-deficient T cells, a phenotype that is not because of decreased expression of IL-17 or RORγt. STAT3 expression in T cells was required for IL-21 production by multiple T helper subsets, and neutralization of IL-21 resulted in decreased HPC activity identical to that in mice with STAT3-deficient T cells. Importantly, injection of IL-21 rescued HPC activity in mice with STAT3-deficient T cells. Thus, STAT3-dependent IL-21 production in T cells is required for HPC homeostasis.

Effects of ferulic acid on hematopoietic cell recovery in whole-body gamma irradiated mice

Purpose: The objective of this study was to investigate the mechanism for ferulic acid (FA)-induced radioprotection by evaluating the recovery of bone marrow cells and peripheral blood hematology.Materials and methods: Balb/c mice were irradiated at a dose of 2.5 Gy using cobalt-60 gamma resources. Following irradiation, FA was administered intragastrically for seven consecutive days. Hematopoietic progenitor colony-forming cell assays were used to assess the reconstitution of bone marrow after radiation-induced myelosuppression. Cytokine levels were investigated using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and Western blot analysis.Results: The results demonstrated that FA treatment enhanced hematopoietic progenitor cell activity resulting in accelerated blood cell recovery. FA administration increased levels of granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) and erythropoietin.Conclusion: These results suggest radioprotective efficacy by FA may be a result of early recovery of hematopoietic cells due to enhanced production of G-CSF and erythropoietin.

Hematopoietic progenitor cell regulation by CD4+CD25+ T cells

AbstractCD4+CD25+FoxP3+ regulatory T cells (Tregs) possess the capacity to modulate both adaptive and innate immune responses. We hypothesized that Tregs could regulate hematopoiesis based on cytokine effector molecules they can produce. The studies here demonstrate that Tregs can affect the differentiation of myeloid progenitor cells. In vitro findings demonstrated the ability of Tregs to inhibit the differentiation of interleukin-3 (IL-3)/stem cell factor (colony-forming unit [CFU]-IL3)–driven progenitor cells. Inhibitory effects were mediated by a pathway requiring cell-cell contact, major histocompatibility complex class II expression on marrow cells, and transforming growth factor-β. Importantly, depletion of Tregs in situ resulted in enhanced CFU-IL3 levels after bone marrow transplantation. Cotransplantation of CD4+FoxP3+gfp Tregs together with bone marrow was found to diminish CFU-IL3 responses after transplantation. To address the consequence of transplanted Tregs on differentiated progeny from these CFU 2 weeks after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, peripheral blood complete blood counts were performed and examined for polymorphonuclear leukocyte content. Recipients of cotransplanted Tregs exhibited diminished neutrophil counts. Together, these findings illustrate that both recipient and donor Tregs can influence hematopoietic progenitor cell activity after transplantation and that these cells can alter responses outside the adaptive and innate immune systems.

Sequential CD34 cell fractionation by magnetophoresis in a magnetic dipole flow sorter.

Cell separation and fractionation based on fluorescent and magnetic labeling procedures are common tools in contemporary research. These techniques rely on binding of fluorophores or magnetic particles conjugated to antibodies to target cells. Cell surface marker expression levels within cell populations vary with progression through the cell cycle. In an earlier work we showed the reproducible magnetic fractionation (single pass) of the Jurkat cell line based on the population distribution of CD45 surface marker expression. Here we present a study on magnetic fractionation of a stem and progenitor cell (SPC) population using the established acute myelogenous leukemia cell line KG-1a as a cell model. The cells express a CD34 cell surface marker associated with the hematopoietic progenitor cell activity and the progenitor cell lineage commitment. The CD34 expression level is approximately an order of magnitude lower than that of the CD45 marker, which required further improvements of the magnetic fractionation apparatus. The cells were immunomagnetically labeled using a sandwich of anti-CD34 antibody-phycoerythrin (PE) conjugate and anti-PE magnetic nanobead and fractionated into eight components using a continuous flow dipole magnetophoresis apparatus. The CD34 marker expression distribution between sorted fractions was measured by quantitative PE flow cytometry (using QuantiBRITE PE calibration beads), and it was shown to be correlated with the cell magnetophoretic mobility distribution. A flow outlet addressing scheme based on the concept of the transport lamina thickness was used to control cell distribution between the eight outlet ports. The fractional cell distributions showed good agreement with numerical simulations of the fractionation based on the cell magnetophoretic mobility distribution in the unsorted sample.

Regulation of Hematopoietic Colony Forming Cells by CD4+CD25+ T Cells: A Role for T Regulatory Cells in Hematopoiesis?.

CD4+CD25+ T cells (Treg) comprise a small population within the normal peripheral CD4 T cell compartment. Their primary physiological role appears to be the regulation of autoimmune responses, however, in recent years it has been established that they can modulate anti-tumor as well as transplantation responses. Treg cells have been found to exert their affects on multiple types of immunologically relevant cells including CD4, CD8 and NK populations. Although model dependent, cytokines including TGFβ and IL-10 have been identified as mediators of this population's regulatory activity and ex-vivo, the inhibition effected is generally contact dependent. Based upon the expanding application of Treg cells in stem cell transplants for the control of GVHD, rejection (HVG) and GVL responses, we hypothesized that following T cell receptor engagement and activation in recipients, CD4+CD25+ cells may modulate hematopoietic responses via production of effector cytokines. To address this question, various populations of CD4+CD25+ T cells were initially co-cultured with unfractionated syngeneic bone marrow cells (BMC) for 24–48 hours in medium supplemented with growth factors to maintain progenitor cell (i.e. CFU) function. Following co-culture, cells were collected and replated in triplicate in methylcellulose containing medium together with hematopoietic growth factors and five-seven days later, colonies were counted. CD4+CD25+ T cells were purified from BALB/c or B6–CD8−/− mice which were then activated for 3–8 days with anti-CD3/CD28 beads (a gift of Dr. B. Blazar, U. Minn.) These cells inhibited syngeneic CFU-IL3 colony ($25 cells) formation at ratios as low as 2:1 and 0.5:1 CD4+CD25+: BMC. Notably, Tregs from B6-CD8−/− mice exhibited comparable inhibition of allogeneic (BALB/c) CFU-IL3. Non-activated CD4+CD25+ T cells co-cultured with BMC did not exhibit this inhibitory activity nor did CD4+CD25− cells which contaminated (<10%) CD4+CD25+ populations. Activated Treg cells were also found to inhibit the production of CFU-HPP, a multi-potential marrow progenitor cell population. Contact dependency was found to be required for this effect as separation of activated CD4+CD25+ T cells from BMC “targets” in trans-well cultures abrogated inhibition. Prior depletion of CD25+ cells in vivo resulted in increases in CFU-GM 7–9 days after syngeneic BMT in mice suggesting that Tregs can inhibit hematopoietic reconstitution in vivo. To examine a potential contribution of TGFβ in this model, neutralizing anti-TGFβ mab was added during CD4+CD25+ T cell + BMC co-culture. The inhibition of CFU activity was abrogated in the presence of this antibody. To begin investigating the role of MHC class II molecules in this Treg cell activity, c-kit+ enriched (>85%) BMC from B6-MHC class II KO and B6-wt mice were co-cultured with B6 Treg cells from CD8−/− mice. In contrast to B6-wt c-kit enriched populations, CFU inhibition was not detected against the MHC class II deficient c-kit enriched BMC population. Antibody experiments are in progress to determine if cognate interaction is required between c-kit enriched cells and CD4+CD25+ T cells. In summary, this is the first report demonstrating that CD4+CD25+ T cells can alter hematopoietic progenitor cell activity. We hypothesize that membrane bound TGFβ may participate in effecting such regulation via direct Treg cell interactions with progenitor cell populations.

Isolation and characterization of pediatric canine bone marrow CD34+ cells.

Historically, the dog has been a valuable model for bone marrow transplantation studies, with many of the advances achieved in the dog being directly transferable to human clinical bone marrow transplantation protocols. In addition, dogs are also a source of many well-characterized homologues of human genetic diseases, making them an ideal large animal model in which to evaluate gene therapy protocols. It is generally accepted that progenitor cells for many human hematopoietic cell lineages reside in the CD34+ fraction of cells from bone marrow, cord blood, or peripheral blood. In addition, CD34+ cells are the current targets for human gene therapy of diseases involving the hematopoietic system. In this study, we have isolated and characterized highly enriched populations of canine CD34+ cells isolated from dogs 1 week to 3 months of age. Bone marrow isolated from 2- to 3-week-old dogs contained up to 18% CD34+ cells and this high percentage dropped sharply with age. In in vitro 6-day liquid suspension cultures, CD34+ cells harvested from 3-week-old dogs expanded almost two times more than those from 3-month-old dogs and the cells from younger dogs were also more responsive to human Flt-3 ligand (Flt3L). In culture, the percent and number of CD34+ cells from both ages of dogs dropped sharply between 2 and 4 days, although the number of CD34+ cells at day 6 of culture was higher for cells harvested from the younger dogs. CD34+ cells harvested from both ages of dogs had similar enrichment and depletion values in CFU-GM methylcellulose assays. Canine CD34+/Rho123lo cells expressed c-kit mRNA while the CD34+/Rhohi cells did not. When transplanted to a sub-lethally irradiated recipient, CD34+ cells from 1- to 3-week-old dogs gave rise to both myeloid and lymphoid lineages in the periphery. This study demonstrates that canine CD34+ bone marrow cells have similar in vitro and in vivo characteristics as human CD34+ cells. In addition, ontogeny-related functional differences reported for human CD34+ cells appear to exist in the dog as well, suggesting pediatric CD34+ cells may be better targets for gene transfer than adult bone marrow. The demonstration of similarities between canine and human CD34+ cells enhances the dog as a large, preclinical model to evaluate strategies for improving bone marrow transplantation protocols, for gene therapy protocols that target CD34+ cells, and to study the engraftment potential of various cell populations that may contain hematopoietic progenitor cell activity.

The role of caspases in cryoinjury: caspase inhibition strongly improves the recovery of cryopreserved hematopoietic and other cells.

Cryopreserved cells and tissues are increasingly used for stem cell transplantation and tissue engineering. However, their freezing, storage, and thawing is associated with severe damage, suggesting the need for better cryopreservation methods. Here, we show that activation of caspase-3 is induced during the freeze-thaw process. Moreover, we demonstrate that prevention of caspase activation by the caspase inhibitor zVAD-fmk strongly improves the recovery and survival of several cryopreserved cell types and hematopoietic progenitor cells. A short preincubation with the caspase inhibitor after thawing also enhances the colony-forming activity of hematopoietic progenitor cells up to threefold. Furthermore, overexpression of Bcl-2, but not the blockade of the death receptor signaling, confers protection, indicating that cryoinjury-associated cell death is mediated by a Bcl-2-controlled mitochondrial pathway. Thus, our data suggest the use of zVAD-fmk as an efficient cryoprotective agent. The addition of caspase inhibitors may be an important tool for the cryopreservation of living cells and advantageous in cell transplantation, tissue engineering, and other genetic technologies.

Maintenance of primitive hematopoietic progenitor cell activity through successive in vitro divisions correlates with sustained long-term repopulating potential

Whether maintenance of primitive hematopoietic function through successive in vitro divisions of hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPC) can be modulated by cytokine stimulation was investigated using both in vitro and in vivo assays. Single human marrow CD34+CD38−/lo cells isolated in G0 phase of cell cycle (G0CD34+CD38−/lo cells) were cultured in either SCF, FL and MGDF (SFM) or SFM plus IL3, IL6, and GM-CSF (SFM36G) and the number of progeny cells in each clone was recorded on days 3, 5 and 7. Cells of each clone were harvested on day 7 and examined individually for their HPC content in a 6 seek LTC-IC assay. Being a single cell assay, presence of hematopoietic colonies at week 7 indicated that the primary cell was an LTC-IC with a known proliferation history. While the number of progeny cells per LTC-IC maintained in SFM for 7 days was 5.4 ± 3.4 (mean ± SD, n = 74), that for LTC-IC cultured in SFM36G was 27.1 ± 42.1 (n = 78; p = 0.00002). Since the percentage of clones scored as LTC-IC was similar under both conditions, these data suggest that SFM36G may support additional in vitro cell divisions without loss of function compared to SFM. To test this hypothesis, BM CD34+ cells were expanded in SFM or SFM36G for 5 days then transplanted into conditioned NOD/SCID mice. Fresh CD34+ cells generated 39.0 ± 13.8% chimerism in recipient mice 8 weeks post-transplantation. Progeny of equivalent cell numbers expanded with SFM supported 13.3 ± 16.1% chimerism while progeny of cells maintained in SFM36G sustained 31.8 ± 14.7% chimerism. Analysis of adhesion molecules expression did not reveal a phenotype common to fresh and SFM36G-expanded cells, suggesting that maintenance of repopulating potential of SFM36G-expanded cells may not be a function of enhanced homing. These data demonstrate that maintenance of primitive HPC function through successive in vitro cell divisions of single HPC may predict BM repopulating potential of these cells and suggest that SFM36G is superior to SFM in maintaining, and possibly expanding, the repopulating capacity of HPC.

Human osteosarcomas inhibit hematopoietic colony formation: Partial reversal by antibody to transforming growth factor-β1

Recently we found that primary human osteoblast-like cells (HOBs) support hematopoietic progenitor cells (assayed by colony formation in methylcellulose) and long-term culture initiating (LTC-IC) activity in vitro. In the present investigation, we evaluate whether human osteosarcoma cells share in these activities. We observed that relative to controls, significantly fewer hematopoietic colonies were formed in the presence of HOS TE85, MG-63, SaOS-2, or U2-OS human osteosarcomas. In addition, neither MG-63 or SaOS-2 cells supported hematopoietic progenitor cell activity or LTC-IC activity in vitro. We established that the suppressive activity produced by the osteosarcomas is soluble, correlated with osteosarcoma cell number and is partially neutralized with antibody to TGF-β 1,2,3. While it is clear that the osteosarcomas express several phenotypic characteristics of primary human osteoblasts, these data suggest that they may be functionally disregulated with regard to their ability to support normal hematopoiesis. For these reasons, caution should be exercised when evaluating osteoblastic and hematopoietic cell interactions based purely on the use of osteosarcoma cell lines.

Hematopoietic Defects in Mice Lacking the Sialomucin CD34

Although the pluripotent hematopoietic stem cell can only be definitively identified by its ability to reconstitute the various mature blood lineages, a diversity of cell surface antigens have also been specifically recognized on this subset of hematopoietic progenitors. One such stem cell-associated antigen is the sialomucin CD34, a highly O-glycosylated cell surface glycoprotein that has also been shown to be expressed on all vascular endothelial cells throughout murine embryogenesis as well as in the adult. The functional significance of CD34 expression on hematopoietic progenitor cells and developing blood vessels is unknown. To analyze the involvement of CD34 in hematopoiesis, we have produced both embryonic stem (ES) cells and mice that are null for the expression of this mucin. Analysis of yolk saclike hematopoietic development in embryoid bodies derived from CD34-null ES cells showed a significant delay in both erythroid and myeloid differentiation that could be reversed by transfection of the mutant ES cells with CD34 constructs expressing either a complete or truncated cytoplasmic domain. Measurements of colony-forming activity of hematopoietic progenitor cells derived from yolk sacs or fetal livers isolated from CD34-null embryos also showed a decreased number of these precursor cells. In spite of these diminished embryonic hematopoietic progenitor numbers, the CD34-null mice developed normally, and the hematopoietic profile of adult blood appeared typical. However, the colony-forming activity of hematopoietic progenitors derived from both bone marrow and spleen is significantly reduced in adult CD34-deficient animals, and these CD34-deficient progenitors also appear to be unable to expand in liquid cultures in response to hematopoietic growth factors. Even with these apparent progenitor cell deficiencies, CD34-null animals showed kinetics of erythroid, myeloid, and platelet recovery after sublethal irradiation that are indistinguishable from wild-type mice. These data strongly suggest that CD34 plays an important role in the formation of progenitor cells during both embryonic and adult hematopoiesis. However, the hematopoietic sites of adult CD34-deficient mice may still have a significant reservoir of progenitor cells that allows for normal recovery after nonmyeloablative peripheral cell depletion.

Immune functions and hematopoietic progenitor cell activity in plasmacytoma-bearing mice cured by melphalan.

The incidence of secondary acute myeloid leukemia is higher in multiple myeloma (MM) than that predicted for normal persons. The etiology and pathogenesis of this leukemia is unclear, but it is commonly attributed to a leukemogenic effect of melphalan. The risk for secondary leukemia seems to be greater in MM than in other categories of cancer patients receiving similar drugs, and it is difficult to ascribe the high incidence of AML in MM to treatment alone. Host factors related to the primary malignancy might also be involved in the progression of a transformed but premalignant cell to clinical leukemia. Several immune effector mechanisms operating during the leukemia latency period were postulated to mediate surveillance of potentially malignant cells. We studied the immune profile of a mouse model bearing a transplanted plasmacytoma that was cured by melphalan for 1 year after tumor eradication and cessation of therapy.KeywordsMultiple MyelomaMouse GroupImmune ParameterSecondary LeukemiaSecondary Acute Myeloid LeukemiaThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.