Regulatory mechanisms governing adhesion of hematopoietic progenitor cells to the stromal nische are poorly understood. Growth factors such as stem cell factor (SCF),granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor,and thrombopoietin were reported to upregulate the adhesion of hematopoietic progenitors to immobilized fibronectin through activation of integrin alpha4beta1 and alpha5beta1. Macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP)-1alpha is a C-C chemokine that suppresses colony formation by stem/progenitor cells in vitro. We asked if MIP-1alpha would modulate the adhesive phenotype of colony-forming cells (CFCs) obtained from healthy donor bone marrow (BM),cord blood (CB),and mobilized peripheral blood (mPB) CD34+ cells,in comparison with SCF,using immobilized fibronectin. SCF significantly increased the level of adhesion of CFCs from BM,CB,and mPB. On the other hand,MIP-1alpha significantly increased the level of adhesion of CFCs from BM and CB,but less so from mPB. The effects of MIP-1alpha were inhibited by blocking antibodies to integrin alpha4,alpha5,or beta1,and polymerization plus rearrangement of F-actin were observed in affected cells by labeling with rhodamine-conjugated phalloidine. These data indicate that the effect of MIP-1alpha on the adhesive phenotype of CFCs is mediated by modulation of the organization of integrin. The amount of MIP-1alpha receptor on mPB was less than for BM or CB,which may explain the distinct characteristics in the adhesive response induced by MIP-1alpha. We suggest that hematopoietic progenitor cells from different sources may be heterogeneous with respect to maturation,integrin affinity,MIP-1alpha receptor expression,and regulation of MIP-1alpha signaling. Our data indicate that MIP-1alpha may affect migration,homing,and mobilization of hematopoietic progenitors by modulating the adhesive phenotype of these cells.
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