Inhibition of osteoclast function reduces hematopoietic stem cell numbers in vivo.
Osteoblasts play a crucial role in the hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) niche; however,an overall increase in their number does not necessarily promote hematopoiesis. Because the activity of osteoblasts and osteoclasts is coordinately regulated,we hypothesized that active bone-resorbing osteoclasts would participate in HSC niche maintenance. Mice treated with bisphosphonates exhibited a decrease in proportion and absolute number of Lin(-)cKit(+)Sca1(+) Flk2(-) (LKS Flk2(-)) and long-term culture-initiating cells in bone marrow (BM). In competitive transplantation assays,the engraftment of treated BM cells was inferior to that of controls,confirming a decrease in HSC numbers. Accordingly,bisphosphonates abolished the HSC increment produced by parathyroid hormone. In contrast,the number of colony-forming-unit cells in BM was increased. Because a larger fraction of LKS in the BM of treated mice was found in the S/M phase of the cell cycle,osteoclast impairment makes a proportion of HSCs enter the cell cycle and differentiate. To prove that HSC impairment was a consequence of niche manipulation,a group of mice was treated with bisphosphonates and then subjected to BM transplantation from untreated donors. Treated recipient mice experienced a delayed hematopoietic recovery compared with untreated controls. Our findings demonstrate that osteoclast function is fundamental in the HSC niche.
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Lopez-Izquierdo A et al. (NOV 2014)
American journal of physiology. Heart and circulatory physiology 307 9 H1370--7
A near-infrared fluorescent voltage-sensitive dye allows for moderate-throughput electrophysiological analyses of human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes.
Human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocyte (iPSC-CM)-based assays are emerging as a promising tool for the in vitro preclinical screening of QT interval-prolonging side effects of drugs in development. A major impediment to the widespread use of human iPSC-CM assays is the low throughput of the currently available electrophysiological tools. To test the precision and applicability of the near-infrared fluorescent voltage-sensitive dye 1-(4-sulfanatobutyl)-4-β[2-(di-n-butylamino)-6-naphthyl]butadienylquinolinium betaine (di-4-ANBDQBS) for moderate-throughput electrophysiological analyses,we compared simultaneous transmembrane voltage and optical action potential (AP) recordings in human iPSC-CM loaded with di-4-ANBDQBS. Optical AP recordings tracked transmembrane voltage with high precision,generating nearly identical values for AP duration (AP durations at 10%,50%,and 90% repolarization). Human iPSC-CMs tolerated repeated laser exposure,with stable optical AP parameters recorded over a 30-min study period. Optical AP recordings appropriately tracked changes in repolarization induced by pharmacological manipulation. Finally,di-4-ANBDQBS allowed for moderate-throughput analyses,increasing throughput textgreater10-fold over the traditional patch-clamp technique. We conclude that the voltage-sensitive dye di-4-ANBDQBS allows for high-precision optical AP measurements that markedly increase the throughput for electrophysiological characterization of human iPSC-CMs.
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Amelioration of murine beta-thalassemia through drug selection of hematopoietic stem cells transduced with a lentiviral vector encoding both gamma-globin and the MGMT drug-resistance gene.
Correction of murine models of beta-thalassemia has been achieved through high-level globin lentiviral vector gene transfer into mouse hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). However,transduction of human HSCs is less robust and may be inadequate to achieve therapeutic levels of genetically modified erythroid cells. We therefore developed a double gene lentiviral vector encoding both human gamma-globin under the transcriptional control of erythroid regulatory elements and methylguanine methyltransferase (MGMT),driven by a constitutive cellular promoter. MGMT expression provides cellular resistance to alkylator drugs,which can be administered to kill residual untransduced,diseased HSCs,whereas transduced cells are protected. Mice transplanted with beta-thalassemic HSCs transduced with a gamma-globin/MGMT vector initially had subtherapeutic levels of red cells expressing gamma-globin. To enrich gamma-globin-expressing cells,transplanted mice were treated with the alkylator agent 1,3-bis-chloroethyl-1-nitrosourea. This resulted in significant increases in the number of gamma-globin-expressing red cells and the amount of fetal hemoglobin,leading to resolution of anemia. Selection of transduced HSCs was also obtained when cells were drug-treated before transplantation. Mice that received these cells demonstrated reconstitution with therapeutic levels of gamma-globin-expressing cells. These data suggest that MGMT-based drug selection holds promise as a modality to improve gene therapy for beta-thalassemia.
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