技术资料

The reprogramming of somatic cells into induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells upon overexpression of the transcription factors Oct4,Sox2,Klf4 and cMyc is inefficient. It has been assumed that the somatic differentiation state provides a barrier for efficient reprogramming; however,direct evidence for this notion is lacking. Here,we tested the potential of mouse hematopoietic cells at different stages of differentiation to be reprogrammed into iPS cells. We show that hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells give rise to iPS cells up to 300 times more efficiently than terminally differentiated B and T cells do,yielding reprogramming efficiencies of up to 28%. Our data provide evidence that the differentiation stage of the starting cell has a critical influence on the efficiency of reprogramming into iPS cells. Moreover,we identify hematopoietic progenitors as an attractive cell type for applications of iPS cell technology in research and therapy. View Publication

Up to now,no lentiviral vector (LV) tool existed to govern efficient and stable gene delivery into quiescent B lymphocytes,which hampers its application in gene therapy and immunotherapy areas. Here,we report that LVs incorporating measles virus (MV) glycoproteins,H and F,on their surface allowed transduction of 50% of quiescent B cells,which are not permissive to VSVG-LV transduction. This high transduction level correlated with B-cell SLAM expression and was not at cost of cell-cycle entry or B-cell activation. Moreover,the naive and memory phenotypes of transduced resting B cells were maintained. Importantly,H/F-LVs represent the first tool permitting stable transduction of leukemic cancer cells,B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells,blocked in G(0)/G(1) early phase of the cell cycle. Thus,H/F-LV transduction overcomes the limitations of current LVs by making B cell-based gene therapy and immunotherapy applications feasible. These new LVs will facilitate antibody production and the study of gene functions in these healthy and cancer immune cells. View Publication

Human breast tumors contain a breast cancer stem cell (BCSC) population with properties reminiscent of normal stem cells. We found 37 microRNAs that were differentially expressed between human BCSCs and nontumorigenic cancer cells. Three clusters,miR-200c-141,miR-200b-200a-429,and miR-183-96-182 were downregulated in human BCSCs,normal human and murine mammary stem/progenitor cells,and embryonal carcinoma cells. Expression of BMI1,a known regulator of stem cell self-renewal,was modulated by miR-200c. miR-200c inhibited the clonal expansion of breast cancer cells and suppressed the growth of embryonal carcinoma cells in vitro. Most importantly,miR-200c strongly suppressed the ability of normal mammary stem cells to form mammary ducts and tumor formation driven by human BCSCs in vivo. The coordinated downregulation of three microRNA clusters and the similar functional regulation of clonal expansion by miR-200c provide a molecular link that connects BCSCs with normal stem cells. View Publication

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may emerge as an ideal non-invasive imaging modality to monitor stem cell therapy in the failing heart. This imaging modality generates any arbitrary tomographic view at high spatial and temporal resolution with exquisite intrinsic tissue contrast. This capability enables robust evaluation of both the cardiac anatomy and function. Traditionally,superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticle (SPIO) has been widely used for cellular MRI due to SPIO's ability to enhance sensitivity of MRI by inducing remarkable hypointense,negative signal,blooming effect" on T2*-weighted MRI acquisition. Recently� View Publication

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Identification of prevalent specific markers is crucial to stem/progenitor cell purification. Determinants such as the surface antigens CD34 and CD38 are traditionally used to analyze and purify hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSCs/HPCs). However,the variable expression of these membrane antigens poses some limitations to their use in HSC/HPC purification. Techniques based on drug/stain efflux through the ATP-binding cassette (ABC)G2 pump (side population [SP] phenotype) or on detection of aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) activity have been independently developed and distinguish the SP and ALDH(Bright) (ALDH(Br)) cell subsets for their phenotype and proliferative capability. In this study,we developed a multiparametric flow cytometric method associating both SP and ALDH activities on human lineage negative (Lin(-)) bone marrow cells and sorted different cell fractions according to their SP/ALDH activity level. We find that Lin(-)CD34(+)CD38(Low/-) cells are found throughout the spectrum of ALDH expression and are enriched especially in ALDH(Br) cells when associated with SP functionality (SP/ALDH(Br) fraction). Furthermore,the SP marker identified G(0) cells in all ALDH fractions,allowing us to sort quiescent cells regardless of ALDH activity. Moreover,we show that,within the Lin(-)CD34(+)CD38(-)ALDH(Br) population,the SP marker identifies cells with higher primitive characteristics,in terms of stemness-related gene expression and in vitro and in vivo proliferative potential,than the Lin(-)CD34(+) CD38(-)ALDH(Br) main population cells. In conclusion,our study shows that the coexpression of SP and ALDH markers refines the Lin(-)CD34(+)CD38(-) hematopoietic compartment and identifies an SP/ALDH(Br) cell subset enriched in quiescent primitive HSCs/HPCs. View Publication

Surface marker expression forms the basis for characterization and isolation of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). Currently,there are few well-defined protein epitopes that definitively mark hESCs. Here we combine immunotranscriptional profiling of hESC lines with membrane-polysome translation state array analysis (TSAA) to determine the full set of genes encoding potential hESC surface marker proteins. Three independently isolated hESC lines (HES2,H9,and MEL1) grown under feeder and feeder-free conditions were sorted into subpopulations by fluorescence-activated cell sorting based on coimmunoreactivity to the hESC surface markers GCTM-2 and CD9. Colony-forming assays confirmed that cells displaying high coimmunoreactivity to GCTM-2 and CD9 constitute an enriched subpopulation displaying multiple stem cell properties. Following microarray profiling,820 genes were identified that were common to the GCTM-2(high)/CD9(high) stem cell-like subpopulation. Membrane-polysome TSAA analysis of hESCs identified 1,492 mRNAs encoding actively translated plasma membrane and secreted proteins. Combining these data sets,88 genes encode proteins that mark the pluripotent subpopulation,of which only four had been previously reported. Cell surface immunoreactivity was confirmed for two of these markers: TACSTD1/EPCAM and CDH3/P-Cadherin,with antibodies for EPCAM able to enrich for pluripotent hESCs. This comprehensive listing of both hESCs and spontaneous differentiation-associated transcripts and survey of translated membrane-bound and secreted proteins provides a valuable resource for future study into the role of the extracellular environment in both the maintenance of pluripotency and directed differentiation. View Publication

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) vectors transduce rhesus blood cells poorly due to a species-specific block by TRIM5alpha and APOBEC3G,which target HIV-1 capsid and viral infectivity factor (Vif),respectively. We sought to develop a lentiviral vector capable of transducing both human and rhesus blood cells by combining components of both HIV-1 and simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV),including SIV capsid (sCA) and SIV Vif. A chimeric HIV-1 vector including sCA (chiHIV) was superior to the conventional SIV in transducing a human blood cell line and superior to the conventional HIV-1 vector in transducing a rhesus blood cell line. Among human CD34(+) hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs),the chiHIV and HIV-1 vectors showed similar transduction efficiencies; in rhesus CD34(+) HSCs,the chiHIV vector yielded superior transduction rates. In in vivo competitive repopulation experiments with two rhesus macaques,the chiHIV vector demonstrated superior marking levels over the conventional HIV-1 vector in all blood lineages (first rhesus,15 to 30% versus 1 to 5%; second rhesus,7 to 15% versus 0.5 to 2%,respectively) 3 to 7 months postinfusion. In summary,we have developed an HIV-1-based lentiviral vector system that should allow comprehensive preclinical testing of HIV-1-based therapeutic vectors in the rhesus macaque model with eventual clinical application. View Publication

Development of non-invasive and accurate methods to track cell fate after delivery will greatly expedite transition of embryonic stem (ES) cell therapy to the clinic. In this protocol,we describe the in vivo monitoring of stem cell survival,proliferation and migration using reporter genes. We established stable ES cell lines constitutively expressing double fusion (DF; enhanced green fluorescent protein and firefly luciferase) or triple fusion (TF; monomeric red fluorescent protein,firefly luciferase and herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (HSVtk)) reporter genes using lentiviral transduction. We used fluorescence-activated cell sorting to purify these populations in vitro,bioluminescence imaging and positron emission tomography (PET) imaging to track them in vivo and fluorescence immunostaining to confirm the results ex vivo. Unlike other methods of cell tracking,such as iron particle and radionuclide labeling,reporter genes are inherited genetically and can be used to monitor cell proliferation and survival for the lifetime of transplanted cells and their progeny. View Publication

Platelet factor 4 (PF4) is a negative regulator of megakaryopoiesis,but its mechanism of action had not been addressed. Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor-related protein-1 (LRP1) has been shown to mediate endothelial cell responses to PF4 and so we tested this receptor's importance in PF4's role in megakaryopoiesis. We found that LRP1 is absent from megakaryocyte-erythrocyte progenitor cells,is maximally present on large,polyploidy megakaryocytes,and near absent on platelets. Blocking LRP1 with either receptor-associated protein (RAP),an antagonist of LDL family member receptors,or specific anti-LRP1 antibodies reversed the inhibition of megakaryocyte colony growth by PF4. In addition,using shRNA to reduce LRP1 expression was able to restore megakaryocyte colony formation in bone marrow isolated from human PF4-overexpressing mice (hPF4(High)). Further,shRNA knockdown of LRP1 expression was able to limit the effects of PF4 on megakaryopoiesis. Finally,infusion of RAP into hPF4(High) mice was able to increase baseline platelet counts without affecting other lineages,suggesting that this mechanism is important in vivo. These studies extend our understanding of PF4's negative paracrine effect in megakaryopoiesis and its potential clinical implications as well as provide insights into the biology of LRP1,which is transiently expressed during megakaryopoiesis. View Publication