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BACKGROUND: Ex vivo expansion of cord blood (CB) hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells increases cell dose and may reduce the severity and duration of neutropenia and thrombocytopenia after transplantation. This study's purpose was to establish a clinically applicable culture system by investigating the use of cytokines,serum-free media,and autologous plasma for the expansion of CB cells and the engraftment of expanded product in nonobese diabetic/severe combined immunodeficient (NOD/SCID) mice. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Enriched CB CD34+ cells were cultured in four media (Iscove's modified Dulbecco's medium with FCS,Gibco; X-Vivo-10,BioWhittaker; QBSF-60,Quality Biological; and StemSpan SFEM,Stem Cell Technologies) with four cytokine combinations (thrombopoietin [TPO],SCF,Flt-3 ligand [FL] with and without G-CSF,and/or IL-6). The effect of autologous CB plasma was also investigated. The read-out measures were evaluated on Days 8 and 12. After expansion at the optimized condition,cultured cells were transplanted into sublethally irradiated NOD/SCID mice. The engraftment of human CD45+ cells and subsets in the bone marrow,spleen,and peripheral blood was determined. RESULTS: QBSF-60 or StemSpan SFEM supported high yields of early progenitors (CD34+ cells,textlessor= 64.8-fold; CD34+CD38- cells,330-fold; CFU-granulocyte erythroid macrophage megakaryocyte [GEMM],248-fold) and CFUs of the myeloid (CFU-GM,407-fold) and erythroid (BFU/CFU-E,144-fold) lineages. The expansion of the megakaryocytic lineage was consistently higher in X-Vivo-10 (CFU-megakaryocyte,684-fold). Autologous plasma promoted colony formation but reduced CD34+ cells and CFU-GEMM. The addition of G-CSF or IL-6 improved cell yields; G-CSF was more effective for committed progenitors. Expansion products from cultures in QBSF-60 with the cytokines engrafted and differentiated into the myeloid and lymphoid lineages in NOD/SCID mice. CONCLUSION: The data supported the strategy of expansion. The optimized condition may be applicable to clinical expansion for the abrogation or reduction of posttransplant cytopenia. View Publication

Prior in vitro studies suggested that different types of hematopoietic stem cells may differentiate into cardiomyocytes. The present work examined whether human CD34(+) cells from the human umbilical cord blood (hUCB),cocultured with neonatal mouse cardiomyocytes,acquire the functional properties of myocardial cells and express human cardiac genes. hUCB CD34(+) cells were cocultured onto cardiomyocytes following an infection with a lentivirus-encoding enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP). After 7 days,mononucleated EGFP(+) cells were tested for their electrophysiological features by patch clamp and for cytosolic [Ca(2+)] ([Ca(2+)](i)) homeostasis by [Ca(2+)](i) imaging of X-rhod1-loaded cells. Human Nkx2.5 and GATA-4 expression was examined in cocultured cell populations by real-time RT-PCR. EGFP(+) cells were connected to surrounding cells by gap junctions,acquired electrophysiological properties similar to those of cardiomyocytes,and showed action potential-associated [Ca(2+)](i) transients. These cells also exhibited spontaneous sarcoplasmic reticulum [Ca(2+)](i) oscillations and the associated membrane potential depolarization. However,RT-PCR of both cell populations showed no upregulation of human-specific cardiac genes. In conclusion,under our experimental conditions,hUCB CD34(+) cells cocultured with murine cardiomyocytes formed cells that exhibited excitation-contraction coupling features similar to those of cardiomyocytes. However,the expression of human-specific cardiac genes was undetectable by RT-PCR. View Publication

Cord blood (CB) cells are a useful source of hematopoietic cells for transplantation. The hematopoietic activities of CB cells are different from those of bone marrow and peripheral blood (PB) cells. Platelet recovery is significantly slower after transplantation with CB cells than with cells from other sources. However,the cellular mechanisms underlying these differences have not been elucidated. We compared the surface marker expression profiles of PB and CB hematopoietic cells. We focused on two surface markers of hematopoietic cell immaturity,i.e.,CD34 and AC133. In addition to differences in surface marker expression,the PB and CB cells showed nonidentical differentiation pathways from AC133(+)CD34(+) (immature) hematopoietic cells to terminally differentiated cells. The majority of the AC133(+)CD34(+) PB cells initially lost AC133 expression and eventually became AC133(-)CD34(-) cells. In contrast,the AC133(+)CD34(+) CB cells did not go through the intermediate AC133(-)CD34(+) stage and lost both markers simultaneously. Meanwhile,the vast majority of megakaryocyte progenitors were of the AC133(-)CD34(+) phenotype. We conclude that the delayed recovery of platelets after CB transplantation is due to both subpopulation distribution and the process of differentiation from AC133(+)CD34(+) cells. View Publication

Phenotypic markers associated with human hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) were developed and validated using uncultured cells. Because phenotype and function can be dissociated during culture,better markers to prospectively track and isolate HSCs in ex vivo cultures could be instrumental in advancing HSC-based therapies. Using an expansion system previously shown to increase hematopoietic progenitors and SCID-repopulating cells (SRCs),we demonstrated that the rhodamine-low phenotype was lost,whereas AC133 expression was retained throughout culture. Furthermore,the AC133(+)CD38(-) subpopulation was significantly enriched in long-term culture-initiating cells (LTC-IC) and SRCs after culture. Preculture and postculture analysis of total nucleated cell and LTC-IC number,and limiting dilution analysis in NOD/SCID mice,showed a 43-fold expansion of the AC133(+)CD38(-) subpopulation that corresponded to a 7.3-fold and 4.4-fold expansion of LTC-ICs and SRCs in this subpopulation,respectively. Thus,AC133(+)CD38(-) is an improved marker that tracks and enriches for LTC-IC and SRC in ex vivo cultures. View Publication

Human umbilical cord blood (UCB) contains high numbers of endothelial progenitors cells (EPCs) characterized by coexpression of CD34 and CD133 markers. Prior studies have shown that CD34+/CD133+ EPCs from the cord or peripheral blood (PB) can give rise to endothelial cells and induce angiogenesis in ischemic tissues. In the present study,it is shown that freshly isolated human cord blood CD34+ cells injected into ischemic adductor muscles gave rise to endothelial and,unexpectedly,to skeletal muscle cells in mice. In fact,the treated limbs exhibited enhanced arteriole length density and regenerating muscle fiber density. Under similar experimental conditions,CD34- cells did not enhance the formation of new arterioles and regenerating muscle fibers. In nonischemic limbs CD34+ cells increased arteriole length density but did not promote formation of new muscle fibers. Endothelial and myogenic differentiation ability was maintained in CD34+ cells after ex vivo expansion. Myogenic conversion of human cord blood CD34+ cells was also observed in vitro by coculture onto mouse myoblasts. These results show that human cord blood CD34+ cells differentiate into endothelial and skeletal muscle cells,thus providing an indication of human EPCs plasticity. The full text of this article is available online at http://www.circresaha.org. View Publication

The coding region determinant-binding protein/insulin-like growth factor II mRNA-binding protein (CRD-BP/IMP1) is an RNA-binding protein specifically recognizing c-myc,leader 3' IGF-II and tau mRNAs,and the H19 RNA. CRD-BP/IMP1 is predominantly expressed in embryonal tissues but is de novo activated and/or overexpressed in various human neoplasias. To address the question of whether CRD-BP/IMP1 expression characterizes certain cell types displaying distinct proliferation and/or differentiation properties (i.e. stem cells),we isolated cell subpopulations from human bone marrow,mobilized peripheral blood,and cord blood,all sources known to contain stem cells,and monitored for its expression. CRD-BP/IMP1 was detected only in cord blood-derived CD34(+) stem cells and not in any other cell type of either adult or cord blood origin. Adult BM CD34(+) cells cultured in the presence of 5'-azacytidine expressed de novo CRD-BP/IMP1,suggesting that epigenetic modifications may be responsible for its silencing in adult non-expressing cells. Furthermore,by applying the short interfering RNA methodology in MCF-7 cells,we observed,subsequent to knocking down CRD-BP/IMP1,decreased c-myc expression,increased IGF-II mRNA levels,and reduced cell proliferation rates. These data 1) suggest a normal role for CRD-BP/IMP1 in pluripotent stem cells with high renewal capacity,like the CB CD34(+) cells,2) indicate that altered methylation may directly or indirectly affect its expression in adult cells,3) imply that its de novo activation in cancer cells may affect the expression of c-Myc and insulin-like growth factor II,and 4) indicate that the inhibition of CRD-BP/IMP1 expression might affect cancer cell proliferation. View Publication

Although significant advances have been made over the last decade with respect to our understanding of stem cell biology,progress has been limited in the development of successful techniques for clinically significant ex vivo expansion of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells. We here describe the effect of Notch ligand density on induction of Notch signaling and subsequent cell fate of human CD34+CD38- cord blood progenitors. Lower densities of Delta1(ext-IgG) enhanced the generation of CD34+ cells as well as CD14+ and CD7+ cells,consistent with early myeloid and lymphoid differentiation,respectively. However,culture with increased amounts of Delta1(ext-IgG) induced apoptosis of CD34+ precursors resulting in decreased cell numbers,without affecting generation of CD7+ cells. RNA interference studies revealed that the promotion of lymphoid differentiation was primarily mediated by Delta1 activation of Notch1. Furthermore,enhanced generation of NOD/SCID repopulating cells was seen following culture with lower but not higher densities of ligand. These studies indicate critical,quantitative aspects of Notch signaling in affecting hematopoietic precursor cell-fate outcomes and suggest that density of Notch ligands in different organ systems may be an important determinant in regulating cell-fate outcomes. Moreover,these findings contribute to the development of methodology for manipulation of hematopoietic precursors for therapeutic purposes. View Publication