Showing papers by "Edward F. Srour published in 2014"

Nonmarrow hematopoiesis occurs in a hyaluronic-acid-rich node and duct system in mice.

Abstract: A hyaluronic-acid-rich node and duct system (HAR-NDS) was found on the surface of internal organs of mice, and inside their blood and lymph vessels. The nodes (HAR-Ns) were filled with immune cells of the innate system and were especially enriched with mast cells and histiocytes. They also contained hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs), such as granulocyte-macrophage, erythroid, multipotential progenitors, and mast cell progenitors (MCPs). MCPs were the most abundant among the HPCs in HAR-Ns. Their frequency was fivefold higher than that of the MCPs in bone marrow. In addition, the system contained pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) capable of producing CD45(-)Flk1(+) hemangioblast-like cells, which subsequently generated various types of HPCs and differentiated blood cells. Although HAR-Ns did not appear to harbor enough number of cells capable of long-term reconstitution or short-term radioprotection of lethally irradiated recipients, bone marrow cells were able to engraft in the HAR-NDS and reconstitute hematopoietic potentials of the system. PSCs and HPCs were consistently found in intravenous, intralymphatic, and intestinal HAR-ND. We infer that PSCs and HPCs reside in the HAR-ND and that this novel system may serve as an alternative means to traffic immature and mature blood cells throughout the body.

CD166 regulates human and murine hematopoietic stem cells and the hematopoietic niche

Abstract: We previously showed that immature CD166+ osteoblasts (OB) promote hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) function. Here, we demonstrate that CD166 is a functional HSC marker that identifies both murine and human long-term repopulating cells. Both murine LSKCD48−CD166+CD150+ and LSKCD48−CD166+CD150+CD9+ cells, as well as human Lin−CD34+CD38−CD49f+CD166+ cells sustained significantly higher levels of chimerism in primary and secondary recipients than CD166− cells. CD166−/− knockout (KO) LSK cells engrafted poorly in wild-type (WT) recipients and KO bone marrow cells failed to radioprotect lethally irradiated WT recipients. CD166−/− hosts supported short-term, but not long-term WT HSC engraftment, confirming that loss of CD166 is detrimental to the competence of the hematopoietic niche. CD166−/− mice were significantly more sensitive to hematopoietic stress. Marrow-homed transplanted WT hematopoietic cells lodged closer to the recipient endosteum than CD166−/− cells, suggesting that HSC-OB homophilic CD166 interactions are critical for HSC engraftment. STAT3 has 3 binding sites on the CD166 promoter and STAT3 inhibition reduced CD166 expression, suggesting that both CD166 and STAT3 may be functionally coupled and involved in HSC competence. These studies illustrate the significance of CD166 in the identification and engraftment of HSC and in HSC-niche interactions, and suggest that CD166 expression can be modulated to enhance HSC function.

Cell cycle measurement of mouse hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells.

Abstract: Lifelong production of blood cells is sustained by hematopoietic stem cells (HSC). HSC reside in a mitotically quiescent state within specialized areas of the bone marrow (BM) microenvironment known as the hematopoietic niche (HN). HSC enter into active phases of cell cycle in response to intrinsic and extrinsic biological cues thereby undergoing differentiation or self-renewal divisions. Quiescent and mitotically active HSC have different metabolic states and different functional abilities such as engraftment and BM repopulating potential following their transplantation into conditioned recipients. Recent studies reveal that various cancers also utilize the same mechanisms of quiescence as normal stem cells and preserve the root of malignancy thus contributing to relapse and metastasis. Therefore, exploring the stem cell behavior and function in conjunction with their cell cycle status has significant clinical implications in HSC transplantation and in treating cancers. In this chapter, we describe methodologies to isolate or analytically measure the frequencies of quiescent (G0) and active (G1, S, and G2-M) hematopoietic progenitor and stem cells among murine BM cells.