技术资料

The beta-globin locus control region (LCR) is a large DNA element that is required for high-level expression of beta-like globin genes from the endogenous mouse locus or in transgenic mice carrying the human beta-globin locus. The LCR encompasses 6 DNaseI hypersensitive sites (HSs) that bind transcription factors. These HSs each contain a core of a few hundred base pairs (bp) that has most of the functional activity and exhibits high interspecies sequence homology. Adjoining the cores are 500- to 1000-bp flanks" with weaker functional activity and lower interspecies homology. Studies of human beta-globin transgenes and of the endogenous murine locus show that deletion of an entire HS (core plus flanks) moderately suppresses expression. However� View Publication

OBJECTIVES: The goal of this study was to modify mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) cells with a hypoxia-regulated heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) plasmid to enhance the survival of MSCs in acute myocardial infarction (MI) heart. BACKGROUND: Although stem cells are being tested clinically for cardiac repair,graft cells die in the ischemic heart because of the effects of hypoxia/reoxygenation,inflammatory cytokines,and proapoptotic factors. Heme oxygenase-1 is a key component in inhibiting most of these factors. METHODS: Mesenchymal stem cells from bone marrow were transfected with either HO-1 or LacZ plasmids. Cell apoptosis was assayed in vitro after hypoxia-reoxygen treatment. In vivo,1 x 10(6) of male MSC(HO-1),MSC(LacZ),MSCs,or medium was injected into mouse hearts 1 h after MI (n = 16/group). Cell survival was assessed in a gender-mismatched transplantation model. Apoptosis,left ventricular remodeling,and cardiac function were tested in a gender-matched model. RESULTS: In the ischemic myocardium,the MSC(HO-1) group had greater expression of HO-1 and a 2-fold reduction in the number of terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated deoxyuridine triphosphate in situ nick end labeling-positive cells compared with the MSC(LacZ) group. At seven days after implantation,the survival MSC(HO-1) was five-fold greater than the MSC(LacZ) group; MSC(HO-1) also attenuated left ventricular remodeling and enhanced the functional recovery of infarcted hearts two weeks after MI. CONCLUSIONS: A hypoxia-regulated HO-1 vector modification of MSCs enhances the tolerance of engrafted MSCs to hypoxia-reoxygen injury in vitro and improves their viability in ischemic hearts. This demonstration is the first showing that a physiologically inducible vector expressing of HO-1 genes improves the survival of stem cells in myocardial ischemia. View Publication

CD4(+) T cells producing interleukin 17 (IL-17) are associated with autoimmunity,although the precise mechanisms that control their development are undefined. Here we present data that challenge the idea of a shared developmental pathway with T helper type 1 (T(H)1) or T(H)2 lineages and instead favor the idea of a distinct effector lineage we call 'T(H)-17'. The development of T(H)-17 cells from naive precursor cells was potently inhibited by interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) and IL-4,whereas committed T(H)-17 cells were resistant to suppression by T(H)1 or T(H)2 cytokines. In the absence of IFN-gamma and IL-4,IL-23 induced naive precursor cells to differentiate into T(H)-17 cells independently of the transcription factors STAT1,T-bet,STAT4 and STAT6. These findings provide a basis for understanding how inhibition of IFN-gamma signaling enhances development of pathogenic T(H)-17 effector cells that can exacerbate autoimmunity. View Publication

Erythropoietin (Epo) stimulation of its receptor's downstream signaling pathways and optimum function of GATA-1 transcription factor are both essential for normal erythroid cell development. Epo-receptor (EpoR) signaling and GATA-1 regulate proliferation,survival,differentiation,and maturation of erythroid cells. Whether any signal that is generated by EpoR targets GATA-1 or affects GATA-1 transcriptional activity is not known. Here,we demonstrate that stimulation of EpoR results in phosphorylation of GATA-1 at serine 310 (S310) in primary fetal liver erythroid progenitors and in cultured erythroid cells. We show that phosphorylation of GATA-1 is important for Epo-induced maturation of fetal liver erythroid progenitor cells. The PI3-kinase/AKT signaling pathway is identified as a mediator of Epo-induced phosphorylation of GATA-1. AKT serine threonine kinase phosphorylates GATA-1S310 in vitro and in erythroid cells and enhances GATA-1 transcriptional activity. These data demonstrate that EpoR signaling phosphorylates GATA-1 and modulates its activity via the PI3-kinase/AKT signaling pathway. View Publication

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) can be isolated from murine bone marrow by their ability to efflux the Hoechst 33342 dye. This method defines an extremely small and hematopoietically potent subset of cells known as the side population (SP). Recent studies suggest that transplanted single SP cells are capable of lymphohematopoietic repopulation at near absolute efficiencies. Here,we carefully reevaluate the hematopoietic potential of individual SP cells and find substantially lower rates of reconstitution. Our strategy involved the cotransplantation of single SP cells along with different populations of competitor cells that varied in their self-renewal capacity. Even with minimized HSC competition,SP cells were only able to reconstitute up to 35% of recipient mice. Furthermore,through immunophenotyping and clonal in vitro assays we find that SP cells are virtually homogeneous. Isolation of HSCs on the basis of Hoechst exclusion and a single cell-surface marker allows enrichment levels similar to that obtained with complex multicolor strategies. Altogether,our results indicate that even an extremely homogeneous HSC population,based on phenotype and dye efflux,cannot reconstitute mice at absolute efficiencies. View Publication

In the central nervous system,neural stem cells proliferate in the ventricular zone (VZ) and sequentially give rise to both neurons and glial cells in a temporally and spatially regulated manner,suggesting that stem cells may differ from one another in different brain regions and at different developmental stages. For the purpose of marking and purifying neural stem cells to ascertain whether such differences exist,we generated transgenic mice using promoters from Hes genes (pHes1 or pHes5) to drive expression of destabilized enhanced green fluorescent protein. In the developing brains of these transgenic mice,GFP expression was restricted to undifferentiated cells in the VZ,which could asymmetrically produce a Numb-positive neuronal daughter and a GFP-positive progenitor cell in clonal culture,indicating that they retain the capacity to self-renew. Our results suggest that pHes-EGFP transgenic mice can be used to explore similarities and differences among neural stem cells during development. View Publication

Adult retinal stem cells represent a possible cell source for the treatment of retinal degeneration. However,only a small number of stem cells reside in the ciliary margin. The present study aimed to promote the proliferation of adult retinal stem cells via the Wnt signaling pathway. Ciliary margin cells from 8-week-old mice were dissociated and cultured to allow sphere colony formation. Wnt3a,a glycogen synthase kinase (GSK) 3 inhibitor,fibroblast growth factor (FGF) 2,and a FGF receptor inhibitor were then applied in the culture media. The primary spheres were dissociated to prepare either monolayer or secondary sphere cultures. Wnt3a increased the size of the primary spheres and the number of Ki-67-positive proliferating cells in monolayer culture. The Wnt3a-treated primary sphere cells were capable of self-renewal and gave rise to fourfold the number of secondary spheres compared with nontreated sphere cells. These cells also retained their multilineage potential to express several retinal markers under differentiating culture conditions. The Wnt3a-treated cells showed nuclear accumulation of beta-catenin,and a GSK3 inhibitor,SB216763,mimicked the mitogenic activity of Wnt3a. The proliferative effect of SB216763 was attenuated by an FGF receptor inhibitor but was enhanced by FGF2,with Ki-67-positive cells reaching over 70% of the total cells. Wnt3a and SB216763 promoted the proliferation of retinal stem cells,and this was partly dependent on FGF2 signaling. A combination of Wnt and FGF signaling may provide a therapeutic strategy for in vitro expansion or in vivo activation of adult retinal stem cells. View Publication

The present study examined whether nestin+ neural-like stem cells detected in the scar tissue of rats 1 week after myocardial infarction (MI) were derived from bone marrow and/or were resident cells of the normal myocardium. Irradiated male Wistar rats transplanted with beta-actin promoter-driven,green fluorescent protein (GFP)-labeled,unfractionated bone marrow cells were subjected to coronary artery ligation. Three weeks after MI,GFP-labeled bone marrow cells were detected in the infarct region,and a modest number were associated with nestin immunoreactivity. The paucity of GFP+/nestin+ cells in the scar tissue provided the impetus to explore whether neural-like stem cells were derived from cardiac tissue. Nestin mRNA and immunoreactivity were detected in normal rat myocardium,and transcript levels were increased in the damaged heart after MI. In primary-passage,cardiac tissue-derived neural cells,filamentous nestin staining was associated with a diffuse,cytoplasmic glial fibrillary acidic protein signal. Unexpectedly,in viable myocardium,numerous nestin+/glial fibrillary acidic protein+ fiberlike structures of varying length were detected and observed in close proximity to neurofilament-M+ fibers. The infarct region was likewise innervated,and the preponderance of neurofilament-M+ fibers appeared to be physically associated with nestin+ fiberlike structures. These data highlight the novel observation that the normal rat heart contained resident nestin+/glial fibrillary acidic protein+ neural-like stem cells,fiberlike structures,and nestin mRNA levels that were increased in response to myocardial ischemia. Cardiac tissue-derived neural stem cell migration to the infarct region and concomitant nestin+ fiberlike innervation represent obligatory events of reparative fibrosis in the damaged rat myocardium. View Publication

TEL2/ETV7 is highly homologous to the ETS transcription factor TEL/ETV6,a frequent target of chromosome translocation in human leukemia. Although both proteins are transcriptional inhibitors binding similar DNA recognition sequences,they have opposite biologic effects: TEL inhibits proliferation while TEL2 promotes it. In addition,forced expression of TEL2 but not TEL blocks vitamin D3-induced differentiation of U937 and HL60 myeloid cells. TEL2 is expressed in the hematopoietic system,and its expression is up-regulated in bone marrow samples of some patients with leukemia,suggesting a role in oncogenesis. Recently we also showed that TEL2 cooperates with Myc in B lymphomagenesis in mice. Here we show that forced expression of TEL2 alone in mouse bone marrow causes a myeloproliferative disease with a long latency period but with high penetrance. This suggested that secondary mutations are necessary for disease development. Treating mice receiving transplants with TEL2-expressing bone marrow with the chemical carcinogen N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU) resulted in significantly accelerated disease onset. Although the mice developed a GFP-positive myeloid disease with 30% of the mice showing elevated white blood counts,they all died of T-cell lymphoma,which was GFP negative. Together our data identify TEL2 as a bona fide oncogene,but leukemic transformation is dependent on secondary mutations. View Publication

Transplantation-associated stress can compromise the hematopoietic potential of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). As a consequence,HSCs may undergo exhaustion" in serial transplant recipients� View Publication

In recent years,mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been shown to inhibit T-lymphocyte proliferation induced by alloantigens or mitogens. However,no substantial information is available regarding their effect on natural killer (NK) cells. Here we show that MSCs sharply inhibit IL-2-induced proliferation of resting NK cells,whereas they only partially affect the proliferation of activated NK cells. In addition,we show that IL-2-activated NK cells (but not freshly isolated NK cells) efficiently lyse autologous and allogeneic MSCs. The activating NK receptors NKp30,NKG2D,and DNAM-1 represented the major receptors responsible for the induction of NK-mediated cytotoxicity against MSCs. Accordingly,MSCs expressed the known ligands for these activating NK receptors-ULBPs,PVR,and Nectin-2. Moreover,NK-mediated lysis was inhibited when IFN-gamma-exposed MSCs were used as target cells as a consequence of the up-regulation of HLA class I molecules at the MSC surface. The interaction between NK cells and MSCs resulted not only in the lysis of MSCs but also in cytokine production by NK cells. These results should be taken into account when evaluating the possible use of MSCs in novel therapeutic strategies designed to improve engraftment or to suppress graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) in bone marrow transplantation. View Publication

Colony-stimulating-factor-1 (CSF-1) signaling through cFMS receptor kinase is increased in several diseases. To help investigate the role of cFMS kinase in disease,we identified GW2580,an orally bioavailable inhibitor of cFMS kinase. GW2580 completely inhibited human cFMS kinase in vitro at 0.06 microM and was inactive against 26 other kinases. GW2580 at 1 microM completely inhibited CSF-1-induced growth of mouse M-NFS-60 myeloid cells and human monocytes and completely inhibited bone degradation in cultures of human osteoclasts,rat calvaria,and rat fetal long bone. In contrast,GW2580 did not affect the growth of mouse NS0 lymphoblastoid cells,human endothelial cells,human fibroblasts,or five human tumor cell lines. GW2580 also did not affect lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced TNF,IL-6,and prostaglandin E2 production in freshly isolated human monocytes and mouse macrophages. After oral administration,GW2580 blocked the ability of exogenous CSF-1 to increase LPS-induced IL-6 production in mice,inhibited the growth of CSF-1-dependent M-NFS-60 tumor cells in the peritoneal cavity,and diminished the accumulation of macrophages in the peritoneal cavity after thioglycolate injection. Unexpectedly,GW2580 inhibited LPS-induced TNF production in mice,in contrast to effects on monocytes and macrophages in vitro. In conclusion,GW2580's selective inhibition of monocyte growth and bone degradation is consistent with cFMS kinase inhibition. The ability of GW2580 to chronically inhibit CSF-1 signaling through cFMS kinase in normal and tumor cells in vivo makes GW2580 a useful tool in assessing the role of cFMS kinase in normal and disease processes. View Publication