技术资料

It is unknown how dendritic cells (DCs) become specialized as mucosal DCs and maintain intestinal homeostasis. We report that a subset of bone marrow cells freshly isolated from C57BL/6 mice express the retinoic acid (RA)-synthesizing enzyme aldehyde dehydrogenase family 1,subfamily A2 (ALDH1a2) and are capable of providing RA to DC precursors in the bone marrow microenvironment. RA induced bone marrow-derived DCs to express CCR9 and ALDH1a2 and conferred upon them mucosal DC functions,including induction of Foxp3(+) regulatory T cells,IgA-secreting B cells,and gut-homing molecules. This response of DCs to RA was dependent on a narrow time window and stringent dose effect. RA promoted bone marrow-derived DC production of bioactive TGF-β by inhibiting suppressor of cytokine signaling 3 expression and thereby enhancing STAT3 activation. These RA effects were evident in vivo,in that mucosal DCs from vitamin A-deficient mice had reduced mucosal DC function,namely failure to induce Foxp3(+) regulatory T cells. Furthermore,MyD88 signaling enhanced RA-educated DC ALDH1a2 expression and was required for optimal TGF-β production. These data indicate that RA plays a critical role in the generation of mucosal DCs from bone marrow and in their functional activity. View Publication

Bruton tyrosine kinase (Btk) is essential for B cell development and function and also appears to be important for myeloid cells. The bone marrow of Btk-deficient mice shows enhanced granulopoiesis compared with that of wild-type mice. In purified granulocyte-monocyte-progenitors (GMP) from Btk-deficient mice,the development of granulocytes is favored at the expense of monocytes. However,Btk-deficient neutrophils are impaired in maturation and function. Using bone marrow chimeras,we show that this defect is cell-intrinsic to neutrophils. In GMP and neutrophils,Btk plays a role in GM-CSF- and Toll-like receptor-induced differentiation. Molecular analyses revealed that expression of the lineage-determining transcription factors C/EBPα,C/EBPβ,and PU.1,depends on Btk. In addition,expression of several granule proteins,including myeloperoxidase,neutrophilic granule protein,gelatinase and neutrophil elastase,is Btk-dependent. In the Arthus reaction,an acute inflammatory response,neutrophil migration into tissues,edema formation,and hemorrhage are significantly reduced in Btk-deficient animals. Together,our findings implicate Btk as an important regulator of neutrophilic granulocyte maturation and function in vivo. View Publication

Bispecific antibodies directed against tumor-associated target antigens and to surface receptors mediating T-cell activation,such as the TCR/CD3 complex and the costimulatory receptor CD28,are capable of mediating T-cell activation resulting in tumor cell killing. In this study,we used the B-cell-associated antigens CD19 and CD20 as target structures on human leukemic cells. We found that a combination of bispecific antibody fragments (bsFab2) with target x CD3 and target x CD28 specificity induces vigorous autologous T-cell activation and killing of malignant cells in peripheral blood and bone marrow cultures from patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia and follicular lymphoma. The bsFab2 targeting CD20 were considerably more effective than those binding to CD19. The colony-forming capacity of treated bone marrow was impaired due to large amounts of tumor necrosis factor alpha produced during bsFab2-induced T-cell activation. Neutralizing tumor necrosis factor alpha antibodies were found to reverse this negative effect without affecting T-cell activation and tumor cell killing. CD20 x CD28 bsFab2,when used alone rather than in combination,markedly improved the recognition of leukemic cells by allogeneic T cells. Therefore,these reagents may be capable of enhancing the immunogenicity of leukemic cells in general and,in particular,of increasing the antileukemic activity of allogeneic donor buffy coat cells in relapsed bone marrow transplanted patients. View Publication

BACKGROUND: Circulation of mature fetal blood cells in the maternal blood for a certain postpartum period has been verified,but detailed study of the fetal HPCs has not been reported. The objective of this study was to evaluate the frequency and clearance of these cells in the peripheral blood of puerperal women. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: PBMNCs from 15 puerperal women who gave birth to male infants were cultured in semi-solid medium containing hematopoietic stimulating factors. Colonies formed in the medium were individually characterized,collected,and subjected to PCR amplification of the SRY gene on Y chromosome to confirm fetal origin. RESULTS: The mean numbers of fetal progenitor cell colonies isolated per mL of maternal blood were 1.63,2.48,0.56,0.12,and 0 on the day of delivery,at 4 days,1 month,6 months,and 1 year after delivery,respectively. There was no difference in the ratio of fetal versus maternal colonies between erythroid and granulocyte/macrophage lineages. CONCLUSION: The present study demonstrated that a significant number of fetal HPCs circulate in the maternal blood for a duration of at least 6 months after delivery. View Publication

Patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) have blood cells deficient in glycosyl phosphatidylinositol (GPI)-linked proteins owing to a somatic mutation in the X-linked PIGA gene. To target Piga recombination to the erythroid/megakaryocytic lineage in mice,the Cre/loxP system was used,and Cre was expressed under the transcriptional regulatory sequences of GATA-1. Breeding of GATA1-cre (G) transgenic mice with mice carrying a floxed Piga (L) allele was associated with high embryonic lethality. However,double-transgenic (GL) mice that escaped early recombination looked healthy and were observed for 16 months. Flow cytometric analysis of peripheral blood cells showed that GL mice had up to 100% of red cells deficient in GPI-linked proteins. The loss of GPI-linked proteins on the cell surface occurred late in erythroid differentiation,causing a proportion of red cells to express low residual levels of GPI-linked proteins. Red cells with residual expression of GPI-linked proteins showed an intermediate sensitivity toward complement and thus resemble PNH type II cells in patients with PNH. Recombination of the floxed Piga allele was also detected in cultured megakaryocytes,mast cells,and eosinophils,but not in neutrophils,lymphocytes,or nonhematopoietic tissues. In summary,GATA1-Cre causes high-efficiency Piga gene inactivation in a GATA-1-specific pattern. For the first time,mice were generated that have almost 100% of red cells deficient in GPI-linked proteins. These animals will be valuable to further investigate the consequences of GPI-anchor deficiency on erythroid/megakaryocytic cells. View Publication

Use of oncoretroviral vectors in gene therapy for hemoglobinopathies has been impeded by low titer vectors,genetic instability,and poor expression. Fifteen self- inactivating (SIN) lentiviral vectors using 4 erythroid promoters in combination with 4 erythroid enhancers with or without the woodchuck hepatitis virus postregulatory element (WPRE) were generated using the enhanced green fluorescent protein as a reporter gene. Vectors with high erythroid-specific expression in cell lines were tested in primary human CD34(+) cells and in vivo in the murine bone marrow (BM) transplantation model. Vectors containing the ankyrin-1 promoter showed high-level expression and stable proviral transmission. Two vectors containing the ankyrin-1 promoter and 2 erythroid enhancers (HS-40 plus GATA-1 or HS-40 plus 5-aminolevulinate synthase intron 8 [I8] enhancers) and WPRE expressed at levels higher than the HS2/beta-promoter vector in bulk unilineage erythroid cultures and individual erythroid blast-forming units derived from human BM CD34(+) cells. Sca1(+)/lineage(-) Ly5.1 mouse hematopoietic cells,transduced with these 2 ankyrin-1 promoter vectors,were injected into lethally irradiated Ly5.2 recipients. Eleven weeks after transplantation,high-level expression was seen from both vectors in blood (63%-89% of red blood cells) and erythroid cells in BM (70%-86% engraftment),compared with negligible expression in myeloid and lymphoid lineages in blood,BM,spleen,and thymus (0%-4%). The I8/HS-40-containing vector encoding a hybrid human beta/gamma-globin gene led to 43% to 113% human gamma-globin expression/copy of the mouse alpha-globin gene. Thus,modular use of erythroid-specific enhancers/promoters and WPRE in SIN-lentiviral vectors led to identification of high-titer,stably transmitted vectors with high-level erythroid-specific expression for gene therapy of red cell diseases. View Publication

Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs),like embryonic stem cells,are under intense investigation for novel approaches to model disease and for regenerative therapies. Here,we describe the derivation and characterization of hiPSCs from a variety of sources and show that,irrespective of origin or method of reprogramming,hiPSCs can be differentiated on OP9 stroma towards a multi-lineage haemo-endothelial progenitor that can contribute to CD144(+) endothelium,CD235a(+) erythrocytes (myeloid lineage) and CD19(+) B lymphocytes (lymphoid lineage). Within the erythroblast lineage,we were able to demonstrate by single cell analysis (flow cytometry),that hiPSC-derived erythroblasts express alpha globin as previously described,and that a sub-population of these erythroblasts also express haemoglobin F (HbF),indicative of fetal definitive erythropoiesis. More notably however,we were able to demonstrate that a small sub-fraction of HbF positive erythroblasts co-expressed HbA in a highly heterogeneous manner,but analogous to cord blood-derived erythroblasts when cultured using similar methods. Moreover,the HbA expressing erythroblast population could be greatly enhanced (44textperiodcentered0 ± 6textperiodcentered04%) when a defined serum-free approach was employed to isolate a CD31(+) CD45(+) erythro-myeloid progenitor. These findings demonstrate that hiPSCs may represent a useful alternative to standard sources of erythrocytes (RBCs) for future applications in transfusion medicine. View Publication

Fanconi anemia (FA) is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by progressive bone marrow failure (BMF) during childhood,aside from numerous congenital abnormalities. FA mouse models have been generated; however,they do not fully mimic the hematopoietic phenotype. As there is mounting evidence that the hematopoietic impairment starts already in utero,a human pluripotent stem cell model would constitute a more appropriate system to investigate the mechanisms underlying BMF in FA and its developmental basis. Using zinc finger nuclease (ZFN) technology,we have created a knockout of FANCA in human embryonic stem cells (hESC). We introduced a selection cassette into exon 2 thereby disrupting the FANCA coding sequence and found that whereas mono-allelically targeted cells retain an unaltered proliferation potential,disruption of the second allele causes a severe growth disadvantage. As a result,heterogeneous cultures arise due to the presence of cells still carrying an unaffected FANCA allele,quickly outgrowing the knockout cells. When pure cultures of FANCA knockout hESC are pursued either through selection or single cell cloning,this rapidly results in growth arrest and such cultures cannot be maintained. These data highlight the importance of a functional FA pathway at the pluripotent stem cell stage. ?? 2014. View Publication

Without effective therapy,chronic-phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CP-CML) evolves into an acute leukemia (blast crisis [BC]) that displays either myeloid or B-lymphoid characteristics. This transition is often preceded by a clinically recognized,but biologically poorly characterized,accelerated phase (AP). Here,we report that IKAROS protein is absent or reduced in bone marrow blasts from most CML patients with advanced myeloid disease (AP or BC). This contrasts with primitive CP-CML cells and BCR-ABL1-negative acute myeloid leukemia blasts,which express readily detectable IKAROS. To investigate whether loss of IKAROS contributes to myeloid disease progression in CP-CML,we examined the effects of forced expression of a dominant-negative isoform of IKAROS (IK6) in CP-CML patients' CD34(+) cells. We confirmed that IK6 disrupts IKAROS activity in transduced CP-CML cells and showed that it confers on them features of AP-CML,including a prolonged increased output in vitro and in xenografted mice of primitive cells with an enhanced ability to differentiate into basophils. Expression of IK6 in CD34(+) CP-CML cells also led to activation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 5 and transcriptional repression of its negative regulators. These findings implicate loss of IKAROS as a frequent step and potential diagnostic harbinger of progressive myeloid disease in CML patients. View Publication

The generation of beta-thalassemia (β-Thal) patient-specific induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs),subsequent homologous recombination-based gene correction of disease-causing mutations/deletions in the β-globin gene (HBB),and their derived hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) transplantation offers an ideal therapeutic solution for treating this disease. However,the hematopoietic differentiation efficiency of gene-corrected β-Thal iPSCs has not been well evaluated in the previous studies. In this study,we used the latest gene-editing tool,clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated 9 (Cas9),to correct β-Thal iPSCs; gene-corrected cells exhibit normal karyotypes and full pluripotency as human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) showed no off-targeting effects. Then,we evaluated the differentiation efficiency of the gene-corrected β-Thal iPSCs. We found that during hematopoietic differentiation,gene-corrected β-Thal iPSCs showed an increased embryoid body ratio and various hematopoietic progenitor cell percentages. More importantly,the gene-corrected β-Thal iPSC lines restored HBB expression and reduced reactive oxygen species production compared with the uncorrected group. Our study suggested that hematopoietic differentiation efficiency of β-Thal iPSCs was greatly improved once corrected by the CRISPR/Cas9 system,and the information gained from our study would greatly promote the clinical application of β-Thal iPSC-derived HSCs in transplantation. View Publication

The clinical use of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) requires efficient cellular expansion that must be paired with an ability to generate specialized progeny through differentiation. Self-renewal and differentiation are deemed inherent hallmarks of hESCs and a growing body of evidence suggests that initial culture conditions dictate these two aspects of hESC behavior. Here,we reveal that defined culture conditions using commercial mTeSR1 media augment the expansion of hESCs and enhance their capacity for neural differentiation at the expense of hematopoietic lineage competency without affecting pluripotency. This culture-induced modification was shown to be reversible,as culture in mouse embryonic fibroblast-conditioned media (MEF-CM) in subsequent passages allowed mTeSR1-expanded hESCs to re-establish hematopoietic differentiation potential. Optimal yield of hematopoietic cells can be achieved by expansion in mTeSR1 followed by a recovery period in MEF-CM. Furthermore,the lineage propensity to hematopoietic and neural cell types could be predicted via analysis of surrogate markers expressed by hESCs cultured in mTeSR1 versus MEF-CM,thereby circumventing laborious in vitro differentiation assays. Our study reveals that hESCs exist in a range of functional states and balance expansion with differentiation potential,which can be modulated by culture conditions in a predictive and quantitative manner. Stem Cells 2015;33:1142-1152. View Publication

The generation of personalized induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) followed by targeted genome editing provides an opportunity for developing customized effective cellular therapies for genetic disorders. However,it is critical to ascertain whether edited iPSCs harbor unfavorable genomic variations before their clinical application. To examine the mutation status of the edited iPSC genome and trace the origin of possible mutations at different steps,we have generated virus-free iPSCs from amniotic cells carrying homozygous point mutations in beta-hemoglobin gene (HBB) that cause severe beta-thalassemia (beta-Thal),corrected the mutations in both HBB alleles by zinc finger nuclease-aided gene targeting,and obtained the final HBB gene-corrected iPSCs by excising the exogenous drug resistance gene with Cre recombinase. Through comparative genomic hybridization and whole-exome sequencing,we uncovered seven copy number variations,five small insertions/deletions,and 64 single nucleotide variations (SNVs) in beta-Thal iPSCs before the gene targeting step and found a single small copy number variation,19 insertions/deletions,and 340 single nucleotide variations in the final gene-corrected beta-Thal iPSCs. Our data revealed that substantial but different genomic variations occurred at factor-induced somatic cell reprogramming and zinc finger nuclease-aided gene targeting steps,suggesting that stringent genomic monitoring and selection are needed both at the time of iPSC derivation and after gene targeting. View Publication