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BACKGROUND Embryonic stem (ES) cells are capable of self-renewal and differentiation into cellular derivatives of all 3 germ layers. In appropriate culture conditions,ES cells can differentiate into specialized cells,including cardiac myocytes,but the efficiency is typically low and the process is incompletely understood. METHODS AND RESULTS We evaluated a chemical library for its potential to induce cardiac differentiation of ES cells in the absence of embryoid body formation. Using ES cells stably transfected with cardiac-specific alpha-cardiac myosin heavy chain (MHC) promoter-driven enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP),880 compounds approved for human use were screened for their ability to induce cardiac differentiation. Treatment with ascorbic acid,also known as vitamin C,markedly increased the number of EGFP-positive cells,which displayed spontaneous and rhythmic contractile activity and stained positively for sarcomeric myosin and alpha-actinin. Furthermore,ascorbic acid induced the expression of cardiac genes,including GATA4,alpha-MHC,and beta-MHC in untransfected ES cells in a developmentally controlled manner. This effect of ascorbic acid on cardiac differentiation was not mimicked by the other antioxidants such as N-acetylcysteine,Tiron,or vitamin E. CONCLUSIONS Ascorbic acid induces cardiac differentiation in ES cells. This study demonstrates the potential for chemically modifying the cardiac differentiation program of ES cells. View Publication

OBJECTIVE: Dysregulation of the apoptotic mechanisms plays a key role in the accumulation of malignant B-chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) cells. The transcription nuclear factor (NF)-kappaB is important for cell survival by regulating the expression of anti-apoptotic genes. Several cytokines can modulate leukemic growth and apoptosis in B-CLL. The aim of this study was to determine whether cytokine-mediated regulation of apoptosis occurs via modulation of NF-kappaB activity in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from B-CLL patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We evaluated NF-kappaB activity in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 15 untreated B-CLL patients and 11 controls in resting conditions and in the presence of phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate (PMA) and different cytokines by electrophoretic mobility shift assay. Apoptosis was studied by spectrophotometric analysis of DNA fragmentation. RESULTS: We found a constitutive high NF-kappaB activity not induced by PMA in B-CLL patients,in contrast with a normal inducible NF-kappaB activity in controls. In B-CLL cultures,addition of interleukin (IL)-4 and IL-13 increased,whereas transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta reduced NF-kappaB activity compared with unstimulated cultures. Accordingly,IL-4 and IL-13 decreased,whereas TGF-beta increased DNA fragmentation compared with unstimulated cultures. IL-13 and IL-4 production was increased,whereas TGF-beta was reduced in PMA-stimulated and unstimulated cultures from B-CLL patients compared with controls. CONCLUSIONS: B-CLL patients have a constitutive high NF-kappaB activity,which is modulated by cytokines. In particular,TGF-beta displays a pro-apoptotic activity,whereas IL-4 and IL-13 have opposite effects. These cytokine alterations could be responsible for a positive autocrine circuit that maintains leukemic cells in a pre-apoptotic state. View Publication

Interleukin (IL)-13 has recently been shown to play important and unique roles in asthma,parasite immunity,and tumor recurrence. At least two distinct receptor components,IL-4 receptor (R)alpha and IL-13Ralpha1,mediate the diverse actions of IL-13. We have recently described an additional high affinity receptor for IL-13,IL-13Ralpha2,whose function in IL-13 signaling is unknown. To better appreciate the functional importance of IL-13Ralpha2,mice deficient in IL-13Ralpha2 were generated by gene targeting. Serum immunoglobulin E levels were increased in IL-13Ralpha2-/- mice despite the fact that serum IL-13 was absent and immune interferon gamma production increased compared with wild-type mice. IL-13Ralpha2-deficient mice display increased bone marrow macrophage progenitor frequency and decreased tissue macrophage nitric oxide and IL-12 production in response to lipopolysaccharide. These results are consistent with a phenotype of enhanced IL-13 responsiveness and demonstrate a role for endogenous IL-13 and IL-13Ralpha2 in regulating immune responses in wild-type mice. View Publication

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The Fas receptor and its ligand have been implicated in mediating the bone marrow (BM) suppression observed in graft-versus-host disease and a number of other BM-failure syndromes. However,previous studies have suggested that Fas is probably not expressed on human hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs),but up-regulated as a consequence of their commitment and differentiation,suggesting that progenitors or differentiated blood cells,rather than HSCs,are the targets of Fas-mediated suppression. The present studies confirm that candidate HSCs in human cord blood and BM lack constitutive expression of Fas,but demonstrate that Fas expression on CD34+ progenitor and stem cells is correlated to their cell cycle and activation status. With the use of recently developed in vitro conditions promoting HSC self-renewing divisions,Fas was up-regulated on virtually all HSCs capable of multilineage reconstituting nonobese diabetic/severe combined immunodeficiency (NOD-SCID) mice in vivo,as well as on long-term culture-initiating cells (LTC-ICs). Similarly,in vivo cycling of NOD-SCID repopulating cells upon transplantation,resulted in up-regulation of Fas expression. However,repopulating HSCs expressing high levels of Fas remained highly resistant to Fas-mediated suppression,and HSC function was compromised only upon coactivation with tumor necrosis factor. Thus,reconstituting human HSCs up-regulate Fas expression upon active cycling,demonstrating that HSCs could be targets for Fas-mediated BM suppression. View Publication

Hematologic stem cell rescue after high-dose cytotoxic therapy is extensively used for the treatment of many hematopoietic and solid cancers. Gene marking studies suggest that occult tumor cells within the autograft may contribute to clinical relapse. To date purging of autografts contaminated with cancer cells has been unsuccessful. The selective oncolytic property of reovirus against myriad malignant histologies in in vitro,in vivo,and ex vivo systems has been previously demonstrated. In the present study we have shown that reovirus can successfully purge cancer cells within autografts. Human monocytic and myeloma cell lines as well as enriched ex vivo lymphoma,myeloma,and Waldenström macroglobulinemia patient tumor specimens were used in an experimental purging model. Viability of the cell lines or purified ex vivo tumor cells of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma,chronic lymphocytic leukemia,Waldenström macroglobulinemia,and small lymphocytic lymphoma was significantly reduced after reovirus treatment. Further,[35S]-methionine labeling and sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) of cellular proteins demonstrated reovirus protein synthesis and disruption of host cell protein synthesis as early as 24 hours. Admixtures of apheresis product with the abovementioned tumor cells and cell lines treated with reovirus showed complete purging of disease. In contrast,reovirus purging of enriched ex vivo multiple myeloma,Burkitt lymphoma,and follicular lymphoma was incomplete. The oncolytic action of reovirus did not affect CD34+ stem cells or their long-term colony-forming assays even after granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) stimulation. Our results indicate the ex vivo use of an unattenuated oncolytic virus as an attractive purging strategy for autologous stem cell transplantations. View Publication

Umbilical cord blood (UCB) preparation needs to be optimized in order to develop more simplified procedures for volume reduction,as well as to reduce the amount of contaminating cells within the final stem cell transplant. We evaluated a novel filter device (StemQuick((TM))E) and compared it with our routine buffy coat (BC) preparation procedure for the enrichment of hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs). Two groups of single or pooled UCB units were filtered (each n = 6),or equally divided in two halves and processed by filtration and BC preparation in parallel (n = 10). The engraftment capacity of UCB samples processed by whole blood (WB) preparation was compared with paired samples processed by filtration in the nonobese diabetic/severe combined immunodeficient (NOD/SCID) mouse animal model. Filtration of UCB units in the two groups with a mean volume of 87.8 and 120.7 ml,respectively,and nucleated cell (NC) content of 9.7 and 23.8 x 10(8) resulted in a sufficient mean cell recovery for mononucleated cells ([MNCs] 74.2%-77.5%),CD34(+) cells (76.3%-79.0%),and colony-forming cells (64.1%-86.3%). Moreover,we detected a relevant depletion of the transplants for RBCs (89.2%-90.0%) and platelets ([PLTs] 77.5%-86.1%). In contrast,the mean depletion rate using BC processing proved to be significantly different for PLTs (10%,p = 0.03) and RBCs (39.6%,p textless 0.01). The NC composition showed a highly significant increase in MNCs and a decrease in granulocytes after filtration (p textless 0.01),compared with a less significant MNC increase in the BC group (p textless 0.05). For mice transplanted with WB-derived progenitors,we observed a mean of 15.3% +/- 15.5% of human CD45(+) cells within the BM compared with 19.9% +/- 16.8% for mice transplanted with filter samples (p = 0.03). The mean percentage of human CD34(+) cells was 4.2% +/- 3.1% for WB samples and 4.5% +/- 3.2% for filter samples (p = 0.68). As the data of NOD/SCID mice transplantation demonstrated a significant engraftment capacity of HPCs processed by filtration,no negative effect on the engraftment potential of filtered UCB cells versus non-volume-reduced cells from WB transplants was found. The StemQuick((TM))E filter devices proved to be a useful tool for Good Manufacturing Practices conform enrichment of HPCs and MNCs out of UCB. Filtration enables a quick and standardized preparation of a volume-reduced UCB transplant,including a partial depletion of granulocytes,RBCs,and PLTs without the need for centrifugation. Therefore,it seems very probable that filter-processed UCB transplants will also result in sufficient hematopoietic reconstitution in humans. View Publication

Human stem cells derived from human fertilized oocytes,fetal primordial germ cells,umbilical cord blood,and adult tissues provide potential cell-based therapies for repair of degenerating or damaged tissues. However,the diversity of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) antigens in the general population and the resultant risk of immune-mediated rejection complicates the allogenic use of established stem cells. We assessed an alternative approach,employing chemical activation of nonfertilized metaphase II oocytes for producing stem cells homozygous for MHC. By using F1 hybrid mice (H-2-B/D),we established stem cell lines homozygous for H-2-B and H-2-D,respectively. The undifferentiated cells retained a normal karyotype,expressed stage-specific embryonic antigen-1 and Oct4,and were positive for alkaline phosphatase and telomerase. Teratomatous growth of these cells displayed the development of a variety of tissue types encompassing all three germ layers. In addition,these cells demonstrated the potential for in vitro differentiation into endoderm,neuronal,and hematopoietic lineages. We also evaluated this homozygous stem cell approach in human tissue. Five unfertilized blastocysts were derived from a total of 25 human oocytes,and cells from one of the five hatched blastocysts proliferated and survived beyond two passages. Our studies demonstrate a plausible homozygous stem cell" approach for deriving pluripotent stem cells that can overcome the immune-mediated rejection response common in allotransplantation� 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

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) impacts the activation state of multiple lineages of hematopoietic cells. Chronic HIV-1 infection among individuals with progressive disease can be associated with increased levels of activated signal transducers and activators of transcription (STATs) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells. To investigate interactions between HIV-1 and CD4(+) cells,activated,phosphorylated STAT proteins in nuclear extracts from lymphocytic and promonocytic cell lines as well as primary monocyte-derived macrophages were measured. Levels of activated STATs increased six- to tenfold in HUT78 and U937 cells within 2 h following exposure to virions. The response to virus was dose-dependent,but kinetics of activation was delayed relative to interleukin-2 or interferon-gamma. Activation of STAT1,STAT3,and STAT5 occurred with diverse viral envelope proteins,independent of coreceptor use or viral replication. Envelope-deficient virions had no effect on STAT activation. Monoclonal antibody engagement of CD4 identified a novel role for CD4 as a mediator in the activation of multiple STATs. Results provide a model for HIV-1 pathogenesis in infected and noninfected hematopoietic cells. View Publication

Human hematopoietic stem cells are defined by their ability to repopulate multiple hematopoietic lineages in the bone marrow of transplanted recipients and therefore are functionally distinct from hematopoietic progenitors detected in vitro. Although factors capable of regulating progenitors are well established,in vivo regulators of hematopoietic repopulating function are unknown. By using a member of the vertebrate Wnt family,Wnt-5A,the proliferation and differentiation of progenitors cocultured on stromal cells transduced with Wnt-5A or treated with Wnt-5A conditioned medium (CM) was unaffected. However,i.p. injection of Wnt-5A CM into mice engrafted with human repopulating cells increased multilineage reconstitution by textgreater3-fold compared with controls. Furthermore,in vivo treatment of human repopulating cells with Wnt-5A CM produced a greater proportion of phenotypically primitive hematopoietic progeny that could be isolated and shown to possess enhanced progenitor function independent of continued Wnt-5A treatment. Our study demonstrates that Wnt-5A augments primitive hematopoietic development in vivo and represents an in vivo regulator of hematopoietic stem cell function in the human. Based on these findings,we suggest a potential role for activation of Wnt signaling in managing patients exhibiting poor hematopoietic recovery shortly after stem cell transplantation. View Publication

In humans the majority of endothelial cells (EC) constitutively express MHC class II Ags. We know that in vitro ECs can activate CD45RO(+) B7-independent CD4(+) T cells to proliferate and produce IL-2. The in vivo correlate of this T cell response is not known,and here we have explored whether endothelial expression of MHC class II Ags affects the transendothelial migration of alloreactive CD4(+) CD45RO(+) B7-independent T cells. Alloreactive CD4(+) T cell clones and lines were generated against HLA-DR11,DR13,DR4,and DR1 MHC Ags,and their rates of migration across untreated EC line Eahy.926 (MHC class II negative) or Eahy.926 transfected with CIITA (EahyCIITA) to express DR11 and DR13 were investigated. The migrations of EahyCIITA-specific T cell clones and lines were retarded in a DR-specific manner,and retardation was reversed in the presence of mAb to DR Ag. When investigating the ability of T cells to proliferate in response to EahyCIITA before and after transmigration,migrated cells were still able to proliferate,but the frequency of EahyCIITA-specific cells was much reduced compared with that of nonmigrated cells. The use of fluorescently labeled T cells revealed that specific cells become trapped within the endothelial monolayer. Pretreatment of EahyCIITA with IFN-gamma restored the ability of DR11- or DR13-specific T cells to transmigrate and proliferate,thus abrogating DR-specific retardation. We conclude that cognate interaction between T cells and endothelial MHC class II initiates a stop signal possibly similar to an immunological synapse,but this is overcome in an inflammatory milieu. View Publication