Phenotypic analysis of murine long-term hemopoietic reconstituting cells quantitated competitively in vivo and comparison with more advanced colony-forming progeny.

Early hemopoietic precursors have been extensively studied using short-term assays based on colony formation or in vivo reconstitution that do not run beyond a few weeks. However, little information is available on the phenotype of the stem cells that are detectable in 6-12-mo transplantation assays, and their relationship to cells detected in short-term assays is not known. In this study, we investigated the phenotype and separability by cell sorting of a spectrum of hemopoietic precursor cells in normal adult mouse marrow, including cells quantitated in a 1 yr competitive transplantation assay in vivo as well as in short-term colony assays in vitro and in vivo. Two principal findings emerged. The first was that cells detected in a variety of short-term assays--CFU-S12 (spleen colony-forming cells), CFCmulti (multilineage colony-forming cells), pre-CFCmulti (precursors of CFCmulti), CFC-E/Mg (erythroid/megakaryocyte CFC) and CFC-G/M (granulocyte/macrophage CFC)--were phenotypically similar and could not be separated from one another using a panel of markers useful in segregating them from more differentiated cells, including buoyant density, sedimentation velocity, adhesiveness to plastic, light scatter, high rhodamine-123 retention, and expression of surface wheat-germ agglutinin (WGA)-binding carbohydrate, H-2K, CD45, AA4.1, heat stable antigen (HSA), CD71, and Ly6A/Sca-1 antigens. Long-term reconstituting (LTR) cells quantitated in vivo differed little from the other precursors in expression of many of the above markers. However, they differed somewhat in lower sedimentation velocity and lower expression of WGA-binding surface carbohydrate, and most strikingly in their conditional adhesiveness to plastic, very low retention of Rh123 and high level expression of Ly6A/Sca-1, to a degree that would permit the quantitative separation of the two precursor classes from each other. The results provide a comprehensive characterization of LTR cells measured to 12 mo in vivo and a direct and quantitative analysis of their separation from cells detected in colony assays.

Complete replacement of serum by albumin, transferrin, and soybean lipid in cultures of lipopolysaccharide-reactive B lymphocytes.

Albumin, transferrin, and lipids can replace serum entirely for support of LPS-stimulated murine B lymphocytes in culture. In the presence of these compounds, growth and maturation to IgM and IgG secretion, induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS), occurs at the same or higher efficiency in serum-free conditions as in conventional serum-containing medium, even at relatively low cell concentrations. In contrast to the rapid disappearance of LPS reactivity in conventional serum-containing medium, responsiveness remains at initial levels in serum-free conditions for 2 days before slowly declining. Overall lymphocyte survival is also markedly prolonged. In the presence of thymus "filler" cells, the serum-free conditions permit growth of every LPS-responsive cell to a clone of Ig-secreting cells at dilutions as low as a single reactive B cell per culture. The results have several important implications. These include the establishment for the first time of transferrin as a requirement for B lymphocyte responses in culture, and the availability now of conditions for the assay isolation of cell products regulating lymphocyte function, free of interference from undefined serum components.

Hematopoietic stem cells expand during serial transplantation in vivo without apparent exhaustion.

Whether hematopoietic stem cells can proliferate without limit, or whether their regenerative capacity declines with repeated division, has been debated for decades. Prevailing opinion favours an intrinsic 'decline', a view based on the finite degree to which murine bone marrow can be serially transplanted, the diminished self-renewal of spleen colony-forming cells (CFU-s) subjected to repeated passage, and the failure of stem cells to regenerate to normal levels after even a single transplantation. However, serial transfer experiments did not specifically monitor input and output of long-lived stem cells (long-term reconstituting cells, LTRCs), leaving competing interpretations unresolved. We have re-examined the issue by quantitating 7-12 month LTRCs during sequential transplantations. Although these cells recovered to only 4% of normal levels after primary bone marrow transplantation, at each passage they increased around 10-fold relative to the amount transplanted, attaining an estimated cumulative expansion of 8400-fold over the original input after four transfers. Expansion was limited by transfer of increasing numbers of marrow cells and specifically of LRTCs, suggesting an extrinsically determined ceiling to stem cell growth. Conversely, expansion was enhanced in vivo by administration of stem cell factor (SCF, c-kit ligand) and interleukin-11. The results challenge the view that expansion of passaged stem cells is limited by exhaustion, and indicate that augmentation after transplant is limited by extrinsic mechanisms whose effects are reversible either by further transfer of the stem cells into irradiated hosts or by administration of exogenous cytokines.

Characterization of a novel receptor that maps near the natural killer gene complex: demonstration of carbohydrate binding and expression in hematopoietic cells.

A novel type II integral membrane protein has been identified in the course of screening for genes overexpressed in a mouse model of chronic myelogenous leukemia blast crisis. This new protein, designated NKCL, consists of a 210-amino acid polypeptide with a short, NH2-terminal cytoplasmic tail of 17 amino acids preceding a transmembrane domain and a COOH-terminal extracellular region. The COOH-terminal 132 amino acids bear typical features of the C-type animal lectin carbohydrate-recognition domain. The Nkcl gene is unique in that it maps just proximal to the region of the genome that encodes group V members of the C-type animal lectin family near the natural killer gene complex on mouse chromosome 6, but its protein product also has features of several group II C-type animal lectins. Most notably, it has a complete Ca2+-binding site 2, which forms part of the sugar-binding site in other members of the family, and binds mannose in a Ca2+-dependent manner. Moreover, its expression is not restricted to natural killer cells, as reported for the majority of group V lectins. Nkcl is expressed in pluripotent myeloid precursors, precursor and mature macrophages, and neutrophils.

Overexpression of PDGF-B in murine hematopoietic cells induces a lethal myeloproliferative syndrome in vivo.

Although PDGF is not a primary hematopoietic cytokine, effects in hematopoietic cell cultures have been reported. We recently described responses of multilineage hematopoietic precursors to PDGF. The effects were shown to be neutralized by antibody to IL-1 beta and mediated by marrow macrophages that expressed PDGF receptor RNA and responded to PDGF by upregulation of IL-1 RNA. The present study was performed to determine whether constitutive expression of PDGF by hematopoietic cells would have hematopoietic consequences in vivo. Retroviral vectors containing a PDGF-B gene were constructed and infected into normal marrow cells. Irradiated mice reconstituted with infected cells consistently developed a lethal myeloproliferative syndrome with anemia, neutrophilia and monocytosis, declining hematopoiesis in marrow with shift to the spleen, and extensive infiltration of immature hematopoietic cells into the parenchymal organs and connective tissues. In addition to PDGF, the retroviral constructs expressed a neo resistance marker. Phenotypic expression patterns in fibroblasts and in hematopoietic colony-forming cells in vitro were consistent with a significant degree of interaction between the two expressed inserts. Moreover, selection of infected cells for G418 resistance significantly reduced not only the number of infected reconstituting cells but also the intensity of the evoked syndrome in vivo. The observations have important implications for projected gene therapy protocols, and identify a novel potential pathway to myeloproliferative disease.

A selectable temperature-sensitive v-src Moloney retrovirus.

We have cloned the v-src gene of ts339B77 RSV into a new Moloney-based retroviral expression vector (YN). In the resulting construct (ts339YNsrc), the ts339 gene is transcribed from the viral LTR, while a selectable resitance marker, the Tn5 neomycin phosphotransferase (neor) gene, is transcribed from an internal thymidine kinase (Tk) promoter. G418 resistance and focus formation were induced in NIH3T3 cells at comparable efficiencies within the permissive temperature range (33-37 degrees C). At 39 degrees, on the other hand, focus induction was reduced 15-fold with no corresponding decrease in expression of G418 resistance. In cells infected with ts339YNsrc, phosphoproteins were elevated and similar in pattern on SDS PAGE regardless of whether the cells were grown at the permissive or restrictive temperature. The ts339YNsrc virus will be useful for the study of effects of v-src expression, and may also be of help in identifying relevant substrates of the v-src product.

Cell-specific and inducible Nramp1 gene expression in mouse macrophages in vitro and in vivo.

Mutations in the Nramp1 gene abolish natural resistance to infections with many unrelated intracellular parasites in vivo. Global cDNA amplification was used to analyse Nramp1 mRNA expression in bone marrow-derived cell colonies corresponding to either undifferentiated progenitors or to mature lymphoid, erythroid, and myeloid lineages. Nramp1 mRNA was detected in mature myeloid colonies expressing molecular markers for either the monocyte/macrophage or granulocytic lineages. Having established constitutive expression of Nramp1 in phagocytic cells, the parameters of inducible Nramp1 expression by cytokines and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) were studied in the mouse macrophage cell line RAW 264.7. LPS caused up-regulation of Nramp1 expression in a time- and dose-dependent fashion. This induction required de novo protein synthesis and was abrogated by treatment with cycloheximide. Treatment with interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) also caused a modest but reproducible twofold induction of Nramp1 mRNA expression. In addition, maximum Nramp1 mRNA induction in RAW 264.7 cells was observed after pretreatment with IFN-gamma followed by LPS exposure. In vivo, Nramp1 mRNA expression could be up-regulated in macrophage populations by intraperitoneal injection of either LPS or thioglycollate. Together these results indicate that Nramp1 is expressed in professional phagocytes of the myeloid lineage and can be further up-regulated during macrophage activation in response to infectious, inflammatory, or cytokine stimuli. Finally, the patterns of constitutive and inducible expression of Nramp1 have been compared to those of the inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) gene in the same cells.

The LSP1 gene is expressed in cultured normal and transformed mouse macrophages.

The mouse LSP1 protein is an F-actin binding protein initially isolated as a cDNA from the BALB/c pre-B cell line 220.2. Its expression pattern is highly restricted. Only lymphocytes and lymphoma cell lines were reported to express LSP1. Non-lymphoid cell lines or normal mouse tissues such as brain, lung, liver, skeletal muscle, kidney or testis do not express LSP1. Here we report that mouse macrophage cell lines also express LSP1 mRNA and protein. DNA sequence analysis shows that the coding sequence of LSP1 RNA expressed in the macrophage cell line P388D1 is identical to the sequence of LSP1 RNA from the pre-B cell line 220.2. To determine the expression of LSP1 RNA in normal macrophages derived from fetal liver and adult bone marrow and in other hematopoietic cells we used a recently described technique to make representative amplified polyA cDNA samples from small numbers of cells or isolated hematopoietic colonies. Analysis of these cDNA samples with an LSP1 cDNA probe showed that eight of nine macrophage samples expressed LSP1 RNA. One of two neutrophil samples but none of eight other non-lymphoid colonies was positive for LSP1 RNA. From these results it appears that the expression of LSP1 RNA in the hematopoietic system is restricted to the lymphocyte, macrophage and neutrophil lineages.

Erythroid progenitors in mouse bone marrow detected by macroscopic colony formation in culture.

Methods for the cultivation of erythroid colonies in vitro are expected to allow selective assay of the earliest committed erythropoietic progenitors in the hemopoietic tissues of man and other species. In the present study, factors affecting erythroid colony formation were examined in methyl cellulose cultures of mouse bone marrow. Efficiency of colony formation observed after 2 days of culture was increased as much as 5-fold (to an average of 325 colonies/10-5 nucleated marrow cells) by the addition of thiol (either beta-mercaptoethanol or alphal-thioglycerol) at a final concentration of 10 minus 4 M. Optimum efficiency required 0.5 erythropoietin units/ml and was influenced by the purity of the preparation. When cultures contained thiol and high doses (3 units/ml) of purified erythropoietin, a second population of erythroid colonies became apparent after 5 days of culture, and increased in size to macroscopic dimensions by the tenth day, when they contained as many as 10-4 cells. Feeding was not required. These colonies, thought to be analogous to the "bursts" reported by Axelrad and coworkers in plasma clot cultures, were observed here at a 6-fold higher frequency (25/10-5 marrow cells) and were linearly related to the number of marrow cells plated, down to limiting numbers of colonies. On the basis of their impressive proliferative potential exhibited in culture, the cells originating these colonies are thought to represent a class of very early erythropoietin-responsive red cell progenitors.

Agar extract induces release of granulocyte colony-stimulating activity from human peripheral leukocytes.

Water-soluble components of crude bacto-agar are known to be mitogenic for mouse B lymphocytes. We examined the effects of aqueous agar extract in liquid cultures of human peripheral leukocytes. In comparison with phytohemagglutinin (PHA), agar extract had only weak mitogenic activity. However, it was almost as effective as PHA in promoting the release of granulocyte colony-stimulating activity (G-CSA) into the supernatant medium. This activity was assayed in methyl cellulose cultures of non-plastic-adherent human bone marrow cells. The results provide information on the mechanism of G-CSA release in cultures of agar-immobilized human leukocytes, and serve as a reminder that crude agar is not a completely inert culture constituent.

Expression of notch receptors, notch ligands, and fringe genes in hematopoiesis.

OBJECTIVE: Hematopoiesis is the process by which mature blood cell types are generated from a small population of pluripotent hematopoietic stem cells. How these cells undergo fate selection, however, is not fully understood. The Notch signaling system is known to mediate cell fate decisions of multipotent precursors in a wide range of complex animals throughout development. As Notch signaling involves cell-cell interactions, we sought to determine the expression of Notch receptors, ligands, and regulators in individual cell populations along the hematopoietic differentiation pathway. MATERIALS: Described here is a single cell RT-PCR analysis of Notch1, Notch3, Notch4, Notch ligands (Dll1 and Jagged1), and Fringe gene expression in cells of the blood system. As previously described, single cell globally amplified cDNA was generated by RT-PCR from various hematopoietic precursor cells whose potential was known from sibling analysis. A precursor hierarchy slot blot was created containing these cDNAs as well as samples from maturing blood cell populations and two fibroblast cell lines. The precursor slot blot was screened with probes for each of the candidate genes. RESULTS: Macrophage precursors expressed high levels of Notch1 transcript, while maturing macrophages expressed high levels of both Notch1 and Notch4. The Jagged 1 ligand transcript was highly expressed in terminally maturing cells including mast cells and megakaryocytes. In contrast, the Manic Fringe gene was highly expressed in uncommitted bi- and tri-potential precursors as well as in committed neutrophil and macrophage precursors. CONCLUSIONS: Distinct expression patterns of Jagged1 and Manic Fringe suggest that their corresponding proteins could regulate cell fate choices during hematopoiesis and may be responsible for regulating communication between lineage compartments during hematopoietic development.

Expression mapping of adhesion receptor genes during differentiation of individual hematopoietic precursors.

Associations between hematopoietic cells and their microenvironment are central to the development and maintenance of a functional hematopoietic system. It is important, therefore, to identify the surface receptors that mediate adhesive interactions among hematopoietic cells, stromal cells, and extracellular matrix components. In this study, we examined the expression of mRNA transcripts encoding a number of cell adhesion molecules and surface antigens in primitive hematopoietic cells isolated from murine bone marrow and fetal liver. Using a panel of probes, we hybridized a library of globally amplified cDNA prepared by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction of poly(A)+ mRNA from individual precursors and mature cell populations, representing precisely defined positions within the hematopoietic developmental hierarchy. The panel included probes specific for the CD45, CD34, P-glycoprotein (mdr1), Ly-6A/E (Sca-1), heat stable antigen (CD24), Fc receptor for IgG FcgammaRII (CD32), CD44, CD22, and ICAM-1 (CD54) genes, as well as alphaL (CD11a), alphaM (CD11b), beta2 (CD18), alpha4 (CD49d), alpha5 (CD49e), beta1 (CD29), and beta7 integrin subunit sequences. The data, which revealed stage- and lineage-specific expression patterns, should prove useful in designing future mechanistic studies aimed at elucidating the role played by adhesion receptors in normal and abnormal hematopoiesis.

The role of erythropoietin, thrombopoietic stimulating factor, and myeloid colony-stimulating factors on murine megakaryocyte colony formation.

Various growth factors including purified erythropoietin, colony-stimulating factor (CSF-1), and granulocyte-macrophage CSF (GM-CSF) were tested for their ability to stimulate megakaryocytopoiesis. Four separate preparations of erythropoietin were tested in highly defined cell culture medium. One unit of purified material stimulated small but significant numbers of megakaryocyte colonies, both in serum-containing and in serum-free cultures. All other erythropoietin preparations failed to induce megakaryocyte colony formation. Purified erythropoietin showed no synergistic activity with either WEHI-3 cell conditioned medium (WEHI-3CM, a source of both megakaryocyte CSF and megakaryocyte-potentiating activity) or P388D1 cell conditioned medium (P388D1CM, a preparation containing megakaryocyte potentiator). Partially purified thrombopoietic stimulatory factor did not stimulate directly megakaryocyte colony formation, but acted together with WEHI-3CM, augmenting the number of clonable progenitors detected. Optimal activity was observed at 12-25 micrograms protein per plate. Myeloid growth factors (CSF-1 and GM-CSF) were inactive in the murine megakaryocyte assay. The data show lineage specificity for the myeloid stimulators, but a purified erythropoietin preparation was found to stimulate a small level of megakaryocytopoiesis.

Cloning of the murine transcriptional corepressor component SAP18 and differential expression of its mRNA in the hematopoietic hierarchy.

A differentially expressed sequence tag (EMegR4) was isolated from a subtractive hybridization between a single bipotent erythroid/megakaryocytic precursor (E/Meg) and a single bipotent neutrophil/macrophage precursor (N/M). It was used to clone a novel murine cDNA referred to as mSAP18. The full-length mSAP18 cDNA contains 3415 nucleotides and codes for a protein of 153 amino acids. The open reading frame shows 98% identity to a human protein, SAP18, recently identified in a complex with the transcriptional corepressor mSin3 and histone deacetylase. mSAP18 cDNA harbours four polyadenylation sites and a B2 small interspersed repetitive element (SINE) in its 3' untranslated region. We demonstrate that mSAP18 RNA is expressed with stage and lineage specificity in the hematopoietic hierarchy, and that alternative polyadenylation sites are used.

Gene expression in individual cells: analysis using global single cell reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (GSC RT-PCR).

The determination of the gene expression pattern of single cells has important implications for many areas of cellular and developmental biology including lineage determination, identification of primitive stem cells and temporal gene expression patterns induced by changes in the cellular microenvironment. Global Single Cell Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (GSC RT-PCR) enables the study of single cell gene expression patterns. Initial observations of significant heterogeneity among single cells derived from a population of cells prompted us to determine how much of this observed heterogeneity was due to the intrinsic variation within the method. In this paper we discuss the sensitivity of GSC RT-PCR for analysis of differences in gene expression between single cells and, in particular, detail the amount of variation generated by the method itself. We found that most of the intrinsic variation in the method occurred in the PCR step. The total variation induced by the method was in the range of 5 fold. While we have determined that there is a five fold methodological variation in GSC RT-PCR, any method which use its components (including generation of cDNAs for microarray analysis) is likely to be affected by such experimental variability, which could limit the interpretation of the resulting data.

Identification of a role for the nuclear receptor EAR-2 in the maintenance of clonogenic status within the leukemia cell hierarchy.

Identification of genes that regulate clonogenicity of acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) cells is hindered by the difficulty of isolating pure populations of cells with defined proliferative abilities. By analyzing the growth of clonal siblings in low passage cultures of the cell line OCI/AML4 we resolved this heterogeneous population into strata of distinct clonogenic potential, permitting analysis of the transcriptional signature of single cells with defined proliferative abilities. By microarray analysis we showed that the expression of the orphan nuclear receptor EAR-2 (NR2F6) is greater in leukemia cells with extensive proliferative capacity than in those that have lost proliferative ability. EAR-2 is expressed highly in long-term hematopoietic stem cells, relative to short-term hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells, and is downregulated in AML cells after induction of differentiation. Exogenous expression of EAR-2 increased the growth of U937 cells and prevented the proliferative arrest associated with terminal differentiation, and blocked differentiation of U937 and 32Dcl3 cells. Conversely, silencing of EAR-2 by short-hairpin RNA initiated terminal differentiation of these cell lines. These data identify EAR-2 as an important factor in the regulation of clonogenicity and differentiation, and establish that analysis of clonal siblings allows the elucidation of differences in gene expression within the AML hierarchy.

Complementary and independent function for Hoxb4 and Bmi1 in HSC activity.

Determinants regulating short- and long-term repopulating hematopoietic stem cell (STR-HSC and LTR-HSC) self-renewal remain largely uncharacterized. To gain further insights into HSC self-renewal, we investigated possible genetic interactions between two well-recognized regulators of this process: Bmi1 and Hoxb4. Using complementation and overexpression strategies in mouse HSCs, we document that Bmi1 is not required for the in vivo expansion of fetal HSCs but is essential for the long-term maintenance of adult HSCs. Importantly, we show that Hoxb4 overexpression induces an expansion of Bmi1(-/-)STR-HSCs leading to a rescue of their repopulation defect. In contrast to Hoxb4, we also show that Bmi1 fails to induce HSC expansion ex vivo. Consistent with these results, we report high levels of Angptl3 and Cbx7 in Hoxb4- and Bmi1-transduced cells, respectively. Together, these results support the emerging concept that fate and sustainability of this fate are two critical components of self-renewal in adult stem cells such as HSCs.