技术资料

We assessed viable Pax7(-/-) mice in 129Sv/J background and observed reduced growth and marked muscle wasting together with a complete absence of functional satellite cells. Acute injury resulted in an extreme deficit in muscle regeneration. However,a small number of regenerated myofibers were detected,suggesting the presence of residual myogenic cells in Pax7-deficient muscle. Rare Pax3(+)/MyoD+ myoblasts were recovered from Pax7(-/-) muscle homogenates and cultures of myofiber bundles but not from single myofibers free of interstitial tissues. Finally,we identified Pax3+ cells in the muscle interstitial environment and demonstrated that they coexpressed MyoD during regeneration. Sublaminar satellite cells in hind limb muscle did not express detectable levels of Pax3 protein or messenger RNA. Therefore,we conclude that interstitial Pax3+ cells represent a novel myogenic population that is distinct from the sublaminar satellite cell lineage and that Pax7 is essential for the formation of functional myogenic progenitors from sublaminar satellite cells. View Publication

Flt3 ligand (Flt3L) is a nonredundant cytokine in type I interferon-producing cell (IPC) and dendritic cell (DC) development,and IPC and DC differentiation potential is confined to Flt3+ hematopoietic progenitor cells. Here,we show that overexpression of human Flt3 in Flt3- (Flt3(-)Lin(-)IL-7Ralpha(-)Thy1.1(-)c-Kit+) and Flt3+ (Flt3(+)Lin(-)IL-7Ralpha(-)Thy1.1(-)c-Kit+) hematopoietic progenitors rescues and enhances their IPC and DC differentiation potential,respectively. In defined hematopoietic cell populations,such as Flt3- megakaryocyte/erythrocyte-restricted progenitors (MEPs),enforced Flt3 signaling induces transcription of IPC,DC,and granulocyte/macrophage (GM) development-affiliated genes,including STAT3,PU.1,and G-/M-/GM-CSFR,and activates differentiation capacities to these lineages. Moreover,ectopic expression of Flt3 downstream transcription factors STAT3 or PU.1 in Flt3- MEPs evokes Flt3 receptor expression and instructs differentiation into IPCs,DCs,and myelomonocytic cells,whereas GATA-1 expression and consecutive megakaryocyte/erythrocyte development is suppressed. Based on these data,we propose a demand-regulated,cytokine-driven DC and IPC regeneration model,in which high Flt3L levels initiate a self-sustaining,Flt3-STAT3- and Flt3-PU.1-mediated IPC and DC differentiation program in Flt3+ hematopoietic progenitor cells. View Publication

Although the wild-type prion protein (PrP) is abundant and widely expressed in various types of tissues and cells,its physiological function(s) remain unknown,and PrP knockout mice do not exhibit overt and undisputed phenotypes. Here we showed that PrP is expressed on the surface of several bone marrow cell populations successively enriched in long-term (LT) hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) using flow cytometry analysis. Affinity purification of the PrP-positive and -negative fractions from these populations,followed by competitive bone marrow reconstitution assays,shows that all LT HSCs express PrP. HSCs from PrP-null bone marrow exhibited impaired self-renewal in serial transplantation of lethally irradiated mouse recipients both in the presence and absence of competitors. When treated with a cell cycle-specific myelotoxic agent,the animals reconstituted with PrP-null HSCs exhibit increased sensitivity to hematopoietic cell depletion. Ectopic expression of PrP in PrP-null bone marrow cells by retroviral infection rescued the defective hematopoietic engraftment during serial transplantation. Therefore,PrP is a marker for HSCs and supports their self-renewal. View Publication

The therapeutic potential of hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) gene therapy can be fully exploited only by reaching efficient gene transfer into HSCs without compromising their biologic properties. Although HSCs can be transduced by HIV-derived lentiviral vectors (LVs) in short ex vivo culture,they display low permissivity to the vector,requiring cytokine stimulation to reach high-frequency transduction. Using stringent assays of competitive xenograft repopulation,we show that early-acting cytokines synergistically enhanced human HSC gene transfer by LVs without impairing engraftment and repopulation capacity. Using S-phase suicide assays,we show that transduction enhancement by cytokines was not dependent on cell cycle progression and that LVs can transduce quiescent HSCs. Pharmacologic inhibition of the proteasome during transduction dramatically enhanced HSC gene transfer,allowing the reach of very high levels of vector integration in their progeny in vivo. Thus,LVs are effectively restricted at a postentry step by the activity of this proteolytic complex. Unexpectedly,cytokine stimulation rapidly and substantially down-regulated proteasome activity in hematopoietic progenitors,highlighting one mechanism by which cytokines may enhance permissiveness to LV gene transfer. These findings demonstrate that antiviral responses ultimately mediated by proteasomes strongly limit the efficiency of HSC transduction by LVs and establish improved conditions for HSC-based gene therapy. View Publication

In this study,we demonstrate that extended culture of unfractionated mouse bone marrow (BM) cells,in serum-free medium,supplemented only with fibroblast growth factor (FGF)-1,FGF-2,or FGF-1 +2 preserves long-term repopulating hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). Using competitive repopulation assays,high levels of stem cell activity were detectable at 1,3,and 5 weeks after initiation of culture. FGFs as single growth factors failed to support cultures of highly purified Lin(-)Sca-1(+)c-Kit(+)(LSK) cells. However,cocultures of purified CD45.1 LSK cells with whole BM CD45.2 cells provided high levels of CD45.1 chimerism after transplant,showing that HSC activity originated from LSK cells. Subsequently,we tested the reconstituting potential of cells cultured in FGF-1 + 2 with the addition of early acting stimulatory molecules,stem cell factor +interleukin-11 + Flt3 ligand. The addition of these growth factors resulted in a strong mitogenic response,inducing rapid differentiation and thereby completely overriding FGF-dependent stem cell conservation. Importantly,although HSC activity is typically rapidly lost after short-term culture in vitro,our current protocol allows us to sustain stem cell repopulation potential for periods up to 5 weeks. View Publication

The pathogenesis of malarial anemia is multifactorial,and the mechanisms responsible for its high mortality are poorly understood. Studies indicate that host mediators produced during malaria infection may suppress erythroid progenitor development (Miller,K.L.,J.C. Schooley,K.L. Smith,B. Kullgren,L.J. Mahlmann,and P.H. Silverman. 1989. Exp. Hematol. 17:379-385; Yap,G.S.,and M.M. Stevenson. 1991. Ann. NY Acad. Sci. 628:279-281). We describe an intrinsic role for macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) in the development of the anemic complications and bone marrow suppression that are associated with malaria infection. At concentrations found in the circulation of malaria-infected patients,MIF suppressed erythropoietin-dependent erythroid colony formation. MIF synergized with tumor necrosis factor and gamma interferon,which are known antagonists of hematopoiesis,even when these cytokines were present in subinhibitory concentrations. MIF inhibited erythroid differentiation and hemoglobin production,and it antagonized the pattern of mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphorylation that normally occurs during erythroid progenitor differentiation. Infection of MIF knockout mice with Plasmodium chabaudi resulted in less severe anemia,improved erythroid progenitor development,and increased survival compared with wild-type controls. We also found that human mononuclear cells carrying highly expressed MIF alleles produced more MIF when stimulated with the malarial product hemozoin compared with cells carrying low expression MIF alleles. These data suggest that polymorphisms at the MIF locus may influence the levels of MIF produced in the innate response to malaria infection and the likelihood of anemic complications. View Publication

Chronic phase-to-blast crisis transition in chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) is associated with differentiation arrest and down-regulation of C/EBPalpha,a transcription factor essential for granulocyte differentiation. Patients with CML in blast crisis (CML-BC) became rapidly resistant to therapy with the breakpoint cluster region-Abelson murine leukemia (BCR/ABL) kinase inhibitor imatinib (STI571) because of mutations in the kinase domain that interfere with drug binding. We show here that the restoration of C/EBPalpha activity in STI571-sensitive or -resistant 32D-BCR/ABL cells induced granulocyte differentiation,inhibited proliferation in vitro and in mice,and suppressed leukemogenesis. Moreover,activation of C/EBPalpha eradicated leukemia in 4 of 10 and in 6 of 7 mice injected with STI571-sensitive or -resistant 32D-BCR/ABL cells,respectively. Differentiation induction and proliferation inhibition were required for optimal suppression of leukemogenesis,as indicated by the effects of p42 C/EBPalpha,which were more potent than those of K298E C/EBPalpha,a mutant defective in DNA binding and transcription activation that failed to induce granulocyte differentiation. Activation of C/EBPalpha in blast cells from 4 patients with CML-BC,including one resistant to STI571 and BMS-354825 and carrying the T315I Abl kinase domain mutation,also induced granulocyte differentiation. Thus,these data indicate that C/EBPalpha has potent antileukemia effects even in cells resistant to ATP-binding competitive tyrosine kinase inhibitors,and they portend the development of anti-leukemia therapies that rely on C/EBPalpha activation. View Publication

Supplementation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) during hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) transplantation alleviates complications such as graft-versus-host disease,leading to a speedy recovery of hematopoiesis. To meet this clinical demand,a fast MSC expansion method is required. In the present study,we examined the feasibility of using a rotary bioreactor system to expand MSCs from isolated bone marrow mononuclear cells. The cells were cultured in a rotary bioreactor with Myelocult medium containing a combination of supplementary factors,including stem cell factor and interleukin-3 and -6. After 8 days of culture,total cell numbers,Stro-1(+)CD44(+)CD34(-) MSCs,and CD34(+)CD44(+)Stro-1(-) HSCs were increased 9-,29-,and 8-fold,respectively. Colony-forming efficiency-fibroblast per day of the bioreactor-treated cells was 1.44-fold higher than that of the cells without bioreactor treatment. The bioreactor-expanded MSCs showed expression of primitive MSC markers endoglin (SH2) and vimentin,whereas markers associated with lineage differentiation,including osteocalcin (osteogenesis),type II collagen (chondrogenesis),and C/EBP-alpha (CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein-alpha) (adipogenesis),were not detected. Upon induction,the bioreactor-expanded MSCs were able to differentiate into osteoblasts,chondrocytes,and adipocytes. We conclude that the rotary bioreactor with the modified Myelocult medium reported in this study may be used to rapidly expand MSCs. View Publication

Hematopoietic progenitor cell trafficking is an important phenomenon throughout life. It is thought to occur in sequential steps,similar to what has been described for mature leukocytes. Molecular actors have been identified for each step of leukocyte migration; recently,CD99 was shown to play a part during transendothelial migration. We explored the expression and role of CD99 on human hematopoietic progenitors. We demonstrate that (1) CD34+ cells express CD99,albeit with various intensities; (2) subsets of CD34+ cells with high or low levels of CD99 expression produce different numbers of erythroid,natural killer (NK),or dendritic cells in the in vitro differentiation assays; (3) the level of CD99 expression is related to the ability to differentiate toward B cells; (4) CD34+ cells that migrate through an endothelial monolayer in response to SDF-1alpha and SCF display the highest level of CD99 expression; (5) binding of a neutralizing antibody to CD99 partially inhibits transendothelial migration of CD34+ progenitors in an in vitro assay; and (6) binding of a neutralizing antibody to CD99 reduces homing of CD34+ progenitors xenotransplanted in NOD-SCID mice. We conclude that expression of CD99 on human CD34+ progenitors has functional significance and that CD99 may be involved in transendothelial migration of progenitors. View Publication

The effect of sustained exposure to nicotine,a major constituent of cigarette smoke,on hematopoiesis in the bone marrow (BM) and spleen was evaluated in a murine model. BALB/c mice were exposed to nicotine subcutaneously using 21-day slow-release pellets. Exposure to nicotine had no effect on the proliferation of long-term BM cultures or on their ability to form colonies. However,there was a significant decrease in the generation of lineage-specific progenitor cells,specifically eosinophil (colony-forming unit [CFU]-Eos) progenitors,in the BM of nicotine-exposed mice compared with control mice. Surprisingly,sustained exposure of mice to nicotine was found to induce significant hematopoiesis in the spleen. There was a significant increase in total colony formation as well as eosinophil-,granulocyte-macrophage-,and B-lymphocyte-specific progenitors (CFU-Eos,CFU-GM,and CFU-B,respectively) in nicotine-exposed mice but not in control mice. Sustained exposure to nicotine was associated with significant inhibition of rolling and migration of enriched hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs) across BM endothelial cells (BMECs) in vitro as well as decreased expression of beta2 integrin on the surface of these cells. Although sustained exposure to nicotine has only a modest effect on BM hematopoiesis,our studies indicate that it significantly induces extramedullary hematopoiesis in the spleen. Decreased interaction of nicotine-exposed HSPCs with BMECs (i.e.,rolling and migration) may result in altered BM homing of these cells,leading to their seeding and proliferation at extramedullary sites such as the spleen. View Publication

MafB is a member of the large Maf family of transcription factors that share similar basic region/leucine zipper DNA binding motifs and N-terminal activation domains. Although it is well known that MafB is specifically expressed in glomerular epithelial cells (podocytes) and macrophages,characterization of the null mutant phenotype in these tissues has not been previously reported. To investigate suspected MafB functions in the kidney and in macrophages,we generated mafB/green fluorescent protein (GFP) knock-in null mutant mice. MafB homozygous mutants displayed renal dysgenesis with abnormal podocyte differentiation as well as tubular apoptosis. Interestingly,these kidney phenotypes were associated with diminished expression of several kidney disease-related genes. In hematopoietic cells,GFP fluorescence was observed in both Mac-1- and F4/80-expressing macrophages in the fetal liver. Interestingly,F4/80 expression in macrophages was suppressed in the homozygous mutant,although development of the Mac-1-positive macrophage population was unaffected. In primary cultures of fetal liver hematopoietic cells,MafB deficiency was found to dramatically suppress F4/80 expression in nonadherent macrophages,whereas the Mac-1-positive macrophage population developed normally. These results demonstrate that MafB is essential for podocyte differentiation,renal tubule survival,and F4/80 maturation in a distinct subpopulation of nonadherent mature macrophages. View Publication

Genes that are strongly repressed after B-cell activation are candidates for being inactivated,mutated,or repressed in B-cell malignancies. Krüppel-like factor 4 (Klf4),a gene down-regulated in activated murine B cells,is expressed at low levels in several types of human B-cell lineage lymphomas and leukemias. The human KLF4 gene has been identified as a tumor suppressor gene in colon and gastric cancer; in concordance with this,overexpression of KLF4 can suppress proliferation in several epithelial cell types. Here we investigate the effects of KLF4 on pro/pre-B-cell transformation by v-Abl and BCR-ABL,oncogenes that cause leukemia in mice and humans. We show that overexpression of KLF4 induces arrest and apoptosis in the G1 phase of the cell cycle. KLF4-mediated death,but not cell-cycle arrest,can be rescued by Bcl-XL overexpression. Transformed pro/pre-B cells expressing KLF4 display increased expression of p21CIP and decreased expression of c-Myc and cyclin D2. Tetracycline-inducible expression of KLF4 in B-cell progenitors of transgenic mice blocks transformation by BCR-ABL and depletes leukemic pre-B cells in vivo. Collectively,our work identifies KLF4 as a putative tumor suppressor in B-cell malignancies. View Publication