Defined Serum-Free Medium for Bioreactor Culture of an Immortalized Human Erythroblast Cell Line.

Anticipated shortages in donated blood supply have prompted investigation of alternative approaches for in vitro production of red blood cells (RBCs), such as expansion of conditional immortalization erythroid progenitors. However, there is a bioprocessing challenge wherein factors promoting maximal cell expansion and growth-limiting inhibitory factors are yet to be investigated. The authors use an erythroblast cell line (ImEry) derived from immortalizing CD71+CD235a+ erythroblast from adult peripheral blood for optimization of expansion culture conditions. Design of experiments (DOE) is used in media formulation to explore relationships and interactive effects between factors which affect cell expansion. Our in-house optimized medium formulation produced significantly higher cell densities (3.62 ± 0.055) × 106 cells mL-1 , n = 3) compared to commercial formulations (2.07 ± 0.055) × 106 cells mL-1 , n = 3; at 209 h culture). Culture media costs per unit of blood is shown to have a 2.96-3.09 times cost reduction. As a proof of principle for scale up, ImEry are expanded in a half-liter stirred-bioreactor under controlled settings. Growth characteristics, metabolic, and molecular profile of the cells are evaluated. ImEry has identical O2 binding capacity to adult erythroblasts. Amino acid supplementation results in further yield improvements. The study serves as a first step for scaling up erythroblast expansion in controlled bioreactors.

Superior Red Blood Cell Generation from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells Through a Novel Microcarrier-Based Embryoid Body Platform.

In vitro generation of red blood cells (RBCs) from human embryonic stem cells and human induced pluripotent stem cells appears to be a promising alternate approach to circumvent shortages in donor-derived blood supplies for clinical applications. Conventional methods for hematopoietic differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSC) rely on embryoid body (EB) formation and/or coculture with xenogeneic cell lines. However, most current methods for hPSC expansion and EB formation are not amenable for scale-up to levels required for large-scale RBC generation. Moreover, differentiation methods that rely on xenogenic cell lines would face obstacles for future clinical translation. In this study, we report the development of a serum-free and chemically defined microcarrier-based suspension culture platform for scalable hPSC expansion and EB formation. Improved survival and better quality EBs generated with the microcarrier-based method resulted in significantly improved mesoderm induction and, when combined with hematopoietic differentiation, resulted in at least a 6-fold improvement in hematopoietic precursor expansion, potentially culminating in a 80-fold improvement in the yield of RBC generation compared to a conventional EB-based differentiation method. In addition, we report efficient terminal maturation and generation of mature enucleated RBCs using a coculture system that comprised primary human mesenchymal stromal cells. The microcarrier-based platform could prove to be an appealing strategy for future scale-up of hPSC culture, EB generation, and large-scale generation of RBCs under defined and xeno-free conditions.

Systematic identification of factors for provirus silencing in embryonic stem cells.

Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) repress the expression of exogenous proviruses and endogenous retroviruses (ERVs). Here, we systematically dissected the cellular factors involved in provirus repression in embryonic carcinomas (ECs) and ESCs by a genome-wide siRNA screen. Histone chaperones (Chaf1a/b), sumoylation factors (Sumo2/Ube2i/Sae1/Uba2/Senp6), and chromatin modifiers (Trim28/Eset/Atf7ip) are key determinants that establish provirus silencing. RNA-seq analysis uncovered the roles of Chaf1a/b and sumoylation modifiers in the repression of ERVs. ChIP-seq analysis demonstrates direct recruitment of Chaf1a and Sumo2 to ERVs. Chaf1a reinforces transcriptional repression via its interaction with members of the NuRD complex (Kdm1a, Hdac1/2) and Eset, while Sumo2 orchestrates the provirus repressive function of the canonical Zfp809/Trim28/Eset machinery by sumoylation of Trim28. Our study reports a genome-wide atlas of functional nodes that mediate proviral silencing in ESCs and illuminates the comprehensive, interconnected, and multi-layered genetic and epigenetic mechanisms by which ESCs repress retroviruses within the genome.

TWIST-1 promotes cell growth, drug resistance and progenitor clonogenic capacities in myeloid leukemia and is a novel poor prognostic factor in acute myeloid leukemia.

Alterations of TWIST-1 expression are often seen in solid tumors and contribute to tumorigenesis and cancer progression. However, studies concerning its pathogenic role in leukemia are scarce. Our study shows that TWIST-1 is overexpressed in bone marrow mononuclear cells of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Gain-of-function and loss-of-function analyses demonstrate that TWIST-1 promotes cell growth, colony formation and drug resistance of AML and CML cell lines. Furthermore, TWIST-1 is aberrantly highly expressed in CD34+CD38- leukemia stem cell candidates and its expression declines with differentiation. Down-modulation of TWIST-1 in myeloid leukemia CD34+ cells impairs their colony-forming capacity. Mechanistically, c-MPL, which is highly expressed in myeloid leukemia cells and associated with poor prognosis, is identified as a TWIST-1 coexpressed gene in myeloid leukemia patients and partially contributes to TWIST-1-mediated leukemogenic effects. Moreover, patients with higher TWIST-1 expression have shorter overall and event-free survival (OS and EFS) in AML. Multivariate analysis further demonstrates that TWIST-1 overexpression is a novel independent unfavourable predictor for both OS and EFS in AML. These data highlight TWIST-1 as a new candidate gene contributing to leukemogenesis of myeloid leukemia, and propose possible new avenues for improving risk and treatment stratification in AML.

Cdk5 contributes to inflammation-induced thermal hyperalgesia mediated by the p38 MAPK pathway in microglia.

BACKGROUND: The mechanisms underlying cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5)-mediated thermal hyperalgesia induced by inflammation remain poorly understood. In the present study, we examined thermal hyperalgesia provoked by peripheral injection of complete Freund׳s adjuvant (CFA) to test for Cdk5 signaling in the spinal dorsal horns of rats through the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38 MAPK) signaling pathway, which is known to function in mediating inflammatory pain. METHODS: We induced the inflammatory pain model by plantar injection of CFA and compared the inhibitory effects of roscovitine and SB203580 on thermal hyperalgesia. We measured localization of Cdk5, p35, OX-42, and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) in the dorsal horn at 1 and 3 days after CFA injection using immunohistochemistry, and we measured protein levels of OX-42 and phosphorylated-p38 (p-p38) using Western blot analysis. Tumor necrosis factor-a (TNF-a) was measured by ELISA. RESULTS: The maximum thermal hyperalgesia induced by CFA occurred at 1d following injection and decreased until 5 d. We found colocalization of the Cdk5 activator p35, the microglial marker OX-42 and p-p38 in the same microglial cells and neurons of the spinal cord at day 1 after CFA injection; however, we saw no colocalization of p35 and GFAP, a marker of activated astrocytes. The thermal hyperalgesia induced by CFA was inhibited by intrathecal administration of the Cdk5 inhibitor roscovitine and by the p38 inhibitor SB203580. Furthermore, the expression of OX-42, p-p38, and TNF-a was remarkably increased from days 1 to 5 post-CFA injection and were significantly reversed by roscovitine between 1 and 3 days. CONCLUSIONS: Cdk5, an upstream regulator of p38 and TNF-a, mediates CFA-induced thermal hyperalgesia. As such, pharmacological blocking of the generation of p-p38 mediated by Cdk5 may present a novel approach for diminishing inflammatory pain. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled SI: Spinal cord injury.

Twist-1, a novel regulator of hematopoietic stem cell self-renewal and myeloid lineage development.

Transcription factor Twist-1 plays essential roles in specification and differentiation of mesoderm-derived tissues. Growing evidences now link Twist-1 to the acquisition of stem-cell-like properties. However, the role of Twist-1 in hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) remains largely uncharacterized. We report that Twist-1 is more highly expressed in murine HSC and its expression declines with differentiation. To investigate Twist-1 gene function, retroviral-mediated overexpression or removal experiments are performed. Competitive repopulation studies demonstrate that enforced expression of Twist-1 in HSC-enriched Lin(-) c-Kit(+) Sca-1(+) (LKS) cells results in an increase in the size of the G(0) population, and in their reconstitution ability after the first and a second transplantation. Conversely, removal of Twist-1 in LKS cells impairs their ability to repopulate. In addition, increased Twist-1 expression causes a shift toward production of myeloid cells. Twist-1 transduction in LKS cells activates myeloid lineage-determining factors PU.1 and GATA-1 and downregulates lymphoid factor GATA-3 in vitro, suggesting that Twist-1-mediated myeloid skewing occurs in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs). These findings indicate that Twist-1 is not only involved in the maintenance of HSC dormancy and self-renewal capacity but also implicated in the myeloid lineage fate choice of HSPCs. Exploration of the underlying mechanisms reveals that Runx1/c-Mpl/Tie2 regulatory pathway could possibly account for the observed effects caused by Twist-1 overexpression. Our study provides the first evidence supporting a role for Twist-1 in hematopoiesis.

HSPB8 is methylated in hematopoietic malignancies and overexpression of HSPB8 exhibits antileukemia effect.

HSPB8 has been shown to be involved in regulation of cell proliferation and apoptosis, and it has also been found to have divergent properties in solid tumors. The purpose of this study was to investigate the expression and function of HSPB8 in hematopoietic malignancies. Expression and induced expression of HSPB8 was evaluated in hematopoietic tumor cell lines and bone marrow samples from patients with leukemia. Methylation status was investigated by methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction. The role of HSPB8 in hematopoietic malignancies was addressed by reintroducing HSPB8 expression into the K562 (leukemia) and Namalwa (lymphoma) cell lines. Expression of HSPB8 was absent in hematopoietic tumor cell lines and primary patient and normal volunteer samples. Promoter DNA methylation of HSPB8 was observed in these cells. HSPB8 expression could be restored after demethylation treatment with 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine. Overexpression of HSPB8 reduced colony formation of both K562 and Namalwa cell lines, inhibited the cell growth of Namalwa in vitro, and suppressed tumor formation of K562 cells in vivo. The present study demonstrates that HSPB8 is silenced by DNA methylation in hematopoietic malignant and normal cells and its expression can be induced by treatment with 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine. Overexpression of HSPB8 may have an antitumor activity in chronic myelogenous leukemia and lymphoma.

Novel functions for mda-7/IL-24 and IL-24 delE5: regulation of differentiation of acute myeloid leukemic cells.

Characterizing genes associated with leukemic cell differentiation may provide help for understanding mechanisms on the leukemia differentiation. The aim of this study is to investigate whether the expression of melanoma differentiation-associated gene-7/interleukin-24 (mda-7/IL-24) could be induced during leukemia differentiation and whether mda-7/IL-24 plays a role in leukemia differentiation. We showed that the expression of mda-7/IL-24 and IL-24 delE5, an mda-7/IL-24 splice variant, was induced in U937 and HL60 cells during 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA)-mediated monocytic differentiation. Activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase/extracellular signal-regulated kinase pathway was required for their induction. Knockdown of mda-7/IL-24 and IL-24 delE5 resulted in significant inhibition of the monocytic differentiation induced by TPA. More importantly, ectopic overexpression of mda-7/IL-24 and IL-24 delE5 significantly induced U937 cells, HL60 cells, and blast cells from patients with acute myeloid leukemia-M5 to differentiate, whereas normal hematopoietic progenitors were not affected. Furthermore, the molecular effector associated with selective differentiation induction by mda-7/IL-24 and IL-24 delE5 may be reactive oxygen species (ROS), and the source of ROS generation was nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase. Taken together, our results reveal the mechanism by which TPA induces monocytic differentiation and show for the first time the specific differentiation-inducing effects of mda-7/IL-24 and IL-24 delE5 on human myeloid leukemic cells.

mda-7/IL-24 inhibits the proliferation of hematopoietic malignancies in vitro and in vivo.

OBJECTIVE: Melanoma differentiation-associated gene-7/interleukin-24 (mda-7/IL-24) has been consistently shown to exert growth inhibitory effects on various tumor types. However, the majority of these reports were limited to solid tumors. The purpose of this study was to investigate the antitumor activity of mda-7/IL-24 and the underlying mechanism in hematopoietic malignancies. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We determined the expression of mda-7/IL24 and its heterodimeric receptors in hematopoietic tumor cell lines and then stably transfected mda-7/IL-24 into K562 (leukemia) and Namalwa (lymphoma) cell lines to assess the effects of mda-7/IL-24 on cell proliferation, cell cycle, apoptosis, colony-forming ability, and tumor growth in vivo. Microarray analysis was performed to determine the genes that were differentially regulated by mda-7/IL-24 in K562 cells. RESULTS: Expression of mda-7/IL-24 or its intact receptor pairs was not detected in the 11 cell lines tested. Ectopic expression of mda-7/IL-24 induced significant (p < 0.05) inhibition of cell growth and colony formation in both K562 and Namalwa cells, and the growth inhibition in K562 cells was associated with G(0)/G(1) cell-cycle arrest. Results of in vivo studies showed good correlation with in vitro inhibition of tumor cell proliferation in both the cell lines. We also showed that the increase in p21(WAF-1) and BCCIP and decrease in cdk6, smurf2, and phosphorylated pRb, which are regulators of cell-cycle progression, might account for G(0)/G(1) cell-cycle arrest in K562 cells. CONCLUSIONS: The present study demonstrated for the first time the potential antitumor activity of mda-7/IL-24 in chronic myelogenous leukemia and lymphoma.