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The hope of developing new transplantation therapies for degenerative diseases is limited by inefficient stem cell growth and immunological incompatibility with the host. Here we show that Notch receptor activation induces the expression of the specific target genes hairy and enhancer of split 3 (Hes3) and Sonic hedgehog (Shh) through rapid activation of cytoplasmic signals, including the serine/threonine kinase Akt, the transcription factor STAT3 and mammalian target of rapamycin, and thereby promotes the survival of neural stem cells. In both murine somatic and human embryonic stem cells, these positive signals are opposed by a control mechanism that involves the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase. Transient administration of Notch ligands to the brain of adult rats increases the numbers of newly generated precursor cells and improves motor skills after ischaemic injury. These data indicate that stem cell expansion in vitro and in vivo, two central goals of regenerative medicine, may be achieved by Notch ligands through a pathway that is fundamental to development and cancer.

Activation of natural killer (NK) cell cytotoxicity requires adhesion and formation of a conjugate with a susceptible target cell, followed by actin polymerization, and polarization of the microtubule organizing center (MTOC) and cytolytic granules to the NK cell immune synapse. Here, by using the YTS NK cell line as a model, CD28 is shown to be an activating receptor. It signals cytotoxicity in a process dependent on phosphoinositide-3 kinase activation, leading to sustained extracellular signal-regulated kinase 2 (ERK2) phosphorylation. ERK and phospho-ERK localize to microtubule filaments. Neither conjugation with targets nor actin polymerization is affected by blocking ERK2 activation. However, both polarization of the MTOC and cytolytic granules to the synaptic region and NK cell cytotoxicity are strongly reduced by blocking ERK2 activation. A role for the CD28/CD80 interaction in cytotoxicity of human peripheral NK cells also was established. By contrast, lymphocyte function-associated antigen 1 (LFA-1) ligation transduces only a transient ERK2 activation and fails to induce killing in YTS cells. Thus, in YTS cells, a CD28 signal is used to polarize the MTOC and cytolytic granules to the NK cell immune synapse by stimulating sustained ERK2 activation.

We have previously reported that an anti-human transferrin receptor IgG3-avidin fusion protein (anti-hTfR IgG3-Av) inhibits the proliferation of an erythroleukemia-cell line. We have now found that anti-hTfR IgG3-Av also inhibits the proliferation of additional human malignant B and plasma cells. Anti-hTfR IgG3-Av induces internalization and rapid degradation of the TfR. These events can be reproduced in cells treated with anti-hTfR IgG3 cross-linked with a secondary Ab, suggesting that they result from increased TfR cross-linking. Confocal microscopy of cells treated with anti-hTfR IgG3-Av shows that the TfR is directed to an intracellular compartment expressing the lysosomal marker LAMP-1. The degradation of TfR is partially blocked by cysteine protease inhibitors. Furthermore, cells treated with anti-hTfR IgG3-Av exhibit mitochondrial depolarization and activation of caspases 9, 8, and 3. The mitochondrial damage and cell death can be prevented by iron supplementation, but cannot be fully blocked by a pan-caspase inhibitor. These results suggest that anti-hTfR IgG3-Av induces lethal iron deprivation, but the resulting cell death does not solely depend on caspase activation. This report provides insights into the mechanism of cell death induced by anti-TfR Abs such as anti-hTfR IgG3-Av, a molecule that may be useful in the treatment of B-cell malignancies such as multiple myeloma.

Acute megakaryoblastic leukemia (AMKL) is a subtype of acute myeloid leukemia associated with a poor prognosis. However, there are relatively few insights into the genetic etiology of AMKL. We developed a screening assay for mutations that cause AMKL, based on the hypothesis that constitutive activation of STAT5 would be a biochemical indicator of mutation in an upstream effector tyrosine kinase. We screened human AMKL cell lines for constitutive STAT5 activation, and then used an approach combining mass spectrometry identification of tyrosine phosphorylated proteins and growth inhibition in the presence of selective small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors that would inform DNA sequence analysis of candidate tyrosine kinases. Using this strategy, we identified a new JAK2T875N mutation in the AMKL cell line CHRF-288-11. JAK2T875N is a constitutively activated tyrosine kinase that activates downstream effectors including STAT5 in hematopoietic cells in vitro. In a murine transplant model, JAK2T875N induced a myeloproliferative disease characterized by features of AMKL, including megakaryocytic hyperplasia in the spleen; impaired megakaryocyte polyploidization; and increased reticulin fibrosis of the bone marrow and spleen. These findings provide new insights into pathways and therapeutic targets that contribute to the pathogenesis of AMKL.

BACKGROUND: In animal models, circulating endothelial progenitor cells (EPC) have been shown to participate in repair of damaged or degenerating vascular surfaces. In humans, reduced EPC counts correlate with cardiovascular risk and disease outcome; yet it has been difficult to establish that EPC are in fact mobilized in response to vascular injury as a physiologic response. We therefore studied early (textless12h) mobilization of EPCs into the peripheral circulation after a defined vascular manipulation, percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and non-ACS patients. METHODS AND RESULTS: CD34/CD31 positive EPC colony forming units (EPC-CFU) were quantified by a blinded observer in peripheral blood samples from eight control patients with angiographically normal coronary arteries, and in 30 patients with coronary artery lesions before and 12h after PCI. All patients (n=38) had one or more CV risk factors. Ten patients presented with acute coronary syndrome (PCI(ACS)), and the rest (n=20) underwent elective PCI (PCI(Elect)). Despite the presence of an acute coronary syndrome, patients in the PCI(ACS) group did not present with increased EPC-CFU compared with either the PCI(Elect) or control groups (Ptextgreater0.05). In addition, EPC-CFU (colonies/ml blood) increased significantly in the PCI(Elect) group after stent placement (11.8+1.6 before versus 16.5+1.9 after, P=0.0009), while in contrast, PCI did not stimulate EPC mobilization in patients in the PCI(ACS) group (9.6+3.2 before versus 6.5+1.8, P=0.20). We found a higher presenting vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) level in the PCI(Elect) group compared to PCI(ACS) (78.7+25.2 versus 15.3+7.9 pg/ml blood, P=0.02). However, VEGF levels increased after PCI only in the PCI(ACS) group (15.3+7.9 to 133.3+27.5 pg/ml, P=0.003) and not in the PCI(Elect) group (78.7+25.2 to 79.7+12.2 pg/ml, P=0.97). CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that focal coronary endothelial injury as a result of PCI triggers early mobilization of EPC into the peripheral circulation in patients presenting for an elective PCI, without a corresponding rise in VEGF levels. In contrast, patients with an acute coronary syndrome fail to respond to PCI with early EPC mobilization despite a significant rise in VEGF. The results of the present study may suggest a novel mechanism for early EPC augmentation after PCI.

NUP98-HOXA9, the chimeric protein resulting from the t(7;11)(p15;p15) chromosomal translocation, is a prototype of several NUP98 fusions that occur in myelodysplastic syndromes and acute myeloid leukemia. We examined its effect on differentiation, proliferation, and gene expression in primary human CD34+ hematopoietic cells. Colony-forming cell (CFC) assays in semisolid medium combined with morphologic examination and flow cytometric immunophenotyping revealed that NUP98-HOXA9 increased the numbers of erythroid precursors and impaired both myeloid and erythroid differentiation. In continuous liquid culture, cells transduced with NUP98-HOXA9 exhibited a biphasic growth curve with initial growth inhibition followed by enhanced long-term proliferation, suggesting an increase in the numbers of primitive self-renewing cells. This was confirmed by a dramatic increase in the numbers of long-term culture-initiating cells, the most primitive hematopoietic cells detectable in vitro. To understand the molecular mechanisms underlying the effects of NUP98-HOXA9 on hematopoietic cell proliferation and differentiation, oligonucleotide microarray analysis was done at several time points over 16 days, starting at 6 hours posttransduction. The early growth suppression was preceded by up-regulation of IFNbeta1 and accompanied by marked up-regulation of IFN-induced genes, peaking at 3 days posttransduction. In contrast, oncogenes such as homeobox transcription factors, FLT3, KIT, and WT1 peaked at 8 days or beyond, coinciding with increased proliferation. In addition, several putative tumor suppressors and genes associated with hematopoietic differentiation were repressed at later time points. These findings provide a comprehensive picture of the changes in proliferation, differentiation, and global gene expression that underlie the leukemic transformation of human hematopoietic cells by NUP98-HOXA9.

Regulatory T (T reg) cells are critical regulators of immune tolerance. Most T reg cells are defined based on expression of CD4, CD25, and the transcription factor, FoxP3. However, these markers have proven problematic for uniquely defining this specialized T cell subset in humans. We found that the IL-7 receptor (CD127) is down-regulated on a subset of CD4(+) T cells in peripheral blood. We demonstrate that the majority of these cells are FoxP3(+), including those that express low levels or no CD25. A combination of CD4, CD25, and CD127 resulted in a highly purified population of T reg cells accounting for significantly more cells that previously identified based on other cell surface markers. These cells were highly suppressive in functional suppressor assays. In fact, cells separated based solely on CD4 and CD127 expression were anergic and, although representing at least three times the number of cells (including both CD25(+)CD4(+) and CD25(-)CD4(+) T cell subsets), were as suppressive as the classic" CD4(+)CD25(hi) T reg cell subset. Finally�

We have previously demonstrated that mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells differentiated on three-dimensional (3D), highly porous, tantalum-based scaffolds (Cytomatrixtrade mark) have significantly higher hematopoietic differentiation efficiency than those cultured under conventional two-dimensional (2D) tissue culture conditions. In addition, ES cell-seeded scaffolds cultured inside spinner bioreactors showed further enhancement in hematopoiesis compared to static conditions. In the present study, we evaluated how these various biomaterial-based culture conditions, e.g. 2D vs. 3D scaffolds and static vs. dynamic, influence the global gene expression profile of differentiated ES cells. We report that compared to 2D tissue culture plates, cells differentiated on porous, Cytomatrixtrade mark scaffolds possess significantly higher expression levels of extracellular matrix (ECM)-related genes, as well as genes that regulate cell growth, proliferation and differentiation. In addition, these differences in gene expression were more pronounced in 3D dynamic culture compared to 3D static culture. We report specific genes that are either uniquely expressed under each condition or are quantitatively regulated, i.e. over expressed or inhibited by a specific culture environment. We conclude that that biomaterial-based 3D cultures, especially under dynamic conditions, might favor efficient hematopoietic differentiation of ES cells by stimulating increased expression of specific ECM proteins, growth factors and cell adhesion related genes while significantly down-regulating genes that act to inhibit expression of these molecules.

Transcription factors are critical for instructing the development of B lymphocytes from multipotential progenitor cells in the bone marrow (BM). Here, we show that the absence of STAT3 impaired B-cell development. Mice selectively lacking STAT3 in BM progenitor cells displayed reduced numbers of mature B cells, both in the BM and in the periphery. The reduction in the B-cell compartment included reduced percentages and numbers of pro-B, pre-B, and immature B cells in the absence of STAT3, whereas the number of pre-pro-B cells was increased. We found that pro-B and pre-B-cell populations lacking STAT3 were hyporesponsive to IL-7 because of a decreased number of IL-7-responsive cells rather than decreased expression or signaling of IL-7Ralpha. Moreover, STAT3-deficient mice displayed enhanced apoptosis in the pro-B population when deprived of survival factors, suggesting that at least 2 mechanisms (impaired differentiation and enhanced apoptosis) are involved in the mutant phenotype. Last, BM transplantation confirmed that impaired B lymphopoiesis in the absence of STAT3 was caused by a cell autonomous defect. In sum, these studies defined a specific role for STAT3 in early B-cell development, probably acting at the pre-pro-B transition by contributing to the survival of IL-7-responsive progenitors.

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.

Retroviral vectors with long terminal repeats (LTRs), which contain strong enhancer/promoter sequences at both ends of their genome, are widely used for stable gene transfer into hematopoietic cells. However, recent clinical data and mouse models point to insertional activation of cellular proto-oncogenes as a dose-limiting side effect of retroviral gene delivery that potentially induces leukemia. Self-inactivating (SIN) retroviral vectors do not contain the terminal repetition of the enhancer/promoter, theoretically attenuating the interaction with neighboring cellular genes. With a new assay based on in vitro expansion of primary murine hematopoietic cells and selection in limiting dilution, we showed that SIN vectors using a strong internal retroviral enhancer/promoter may also transform cells by insertional mutagenesis. Most transformed clones, including those obtained after dose escalation of SIN vectors, showed insertions upstream of the third exon of Evi1 and in reverse orientation to its transcriptional orientation. Normalizing for the vector copy number, we found the transforming capacity of SIN vectors to be significantly reduced when compared with corresponding LTR vectors. Additional modifications of SIN vectors may further increase safety. Improved cell-culture assays will likely play an important role in the evaluation of insertional mutagenesis.

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.