Transduction of Human CD34+CD38- Bone Marrow and Cord Blood-Derived SCID-Repopulating Cells with Third-Generation Lentiviral Vectors

The major limitations of Moloney murine leukemia virus (MoMLV)-based vectors for human stem cell applications, particularly those requiring bone marrow (BM) stem cells, include their requirement for mitosis and retroviral receptor expression. New vectors based upon lentiviruses such as HIV-1 exhibit properties that may circumvent these problems. We report that novel third-generation, self-inactivating lentiviral vectors, expressing enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) and pseudotyped with vesicular stomatitis virus G glycoprotein (VSV-G), can efficiently transduce primitive human repopulating cells derived from human BM and cord blood (CB) tested by the SCID-repopulating cell (SRC) assay. Highly purified CD34+CD38- CB or BM cells were efficiently transduced (4-69%) and stably expressed in EGFP for 40 days in culture following infection for only 24 h without fibronectin, polybrene, or cytokines. Nonobese diabetic/severe combined immune-deficient (NOD/SCID) mice transplanted with transduced cells from either CB or BM donors were well engrafted, demonstrating maintenance of SRC during the infection procedure. Serially obtained femoral BM samples indicated that the proportion of EGFP+ cells within both myeloid and lymphoid lineages was maintained or even increased over time, averaging 42.3 ± 6.6% for BM donors and 23.3 ± 7.2% for CB at 12 weeks. Thus, the third-generation lentivectors readily transduce human CB and BM stem cells, under minimal conditions of ex vivo culture, where MoMLV-based vectors are ineffective. Since CB is inappropriate for most therapeutic applications, the efficient maintenance and transduction of BM-derived SRC during the short infection procedure are notable advantages of lentivectors

A stromal lysolipid-autotaxin signaling axis promotes pancreatic tumor progression

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) develops a pronounced stromal response reflecting an aberrant wound-healing process. This stromal reaction features transdifferentiation of tissue-resident pancreatic stellate cells (PSC) into activated cancer-associated fibroblasts, a process induced by PDAC cells but of unclear significance for PDAC progression. Here, we show that PSCs undergo a dramatic lipid metabolic shift during differentiation in the context of pancreatic tumorigenesis, including remodeling of the intracellular lipidome and secretion of abundant lipids in the activated, fibroblastic state. Specifically, stroma-derived lysophosphatidylcholines support PDAC cell synthesis of phosphatidylcholines, key components of cell membranes, and also facilitate production of the potent wound-healing mediator lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) by the extracellular enzyme autotaxin, which is overexpressed in PDAC. The autotaxin–LPA axis promotes PDAC cell proliferation, migration, and AKT activation, and genetic or pharmacologic autotaxin inhibition suppresses PDAC growth in vivo. Our work demonstrates how PDAC cells exploit the local production of wound-healing mediators to stimulate their own growth and migration. Significance: Our work highlights an unanticipated role for PSCs in producing the oncogenic LPA signaling lipid and demonstrates how PDAC tumor cells co-opt the release of wound-healing mediators by neighboring PSCs to promote their own proliferation and migration

Notch signaling inhibits hepatocellular carcinoma following inactivation of the RB pathway

Mice lacking all three Rb genes in the liver develop tumors resembling specific subgroups of human hepatocellular carcinomas, and Notch activity appears to suppress the growth and progression of these tumors

Developmental timing of CCM2 loss influences cerebral cavernous malformations in mice

As revealed in a new model of cerebral cavernous malformations (CCM), the timing of ablation of Ccm genes determines whether or not CCM lesions arise in brain and retina venous beds

Comparative Genomic Analysis of Clinical Strains of Campylobacter jejuni from South Africa

BACKGROUND: Campylobacter jejuni is a common cause of acute gastroenteritis and is also associated with the post-infectious neuropathies, Guillain-Barré and Miller Fisher syndromes. In the Cape Town area of South Africa, C. jejuni strains with Penner heat-stable (HS) serotype HS:41 have been observed to be overrepresented among cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome. The present study examined the genetic content of a collection of 32 South African C. jejuni strains with different serotypes, including 13 HS:41 strains, that were recovered from patients with enteritis, Guillain-Barré or Miller Fisher syndromes. The sequence-based typing methods, multilocus sequence typing and DNA microarrays, were employed to potentially identify distinguishing features within the genomes of these C. jejuni strains with various disease outcomes. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Comparative genomic analyses demonstrated that the HS:41 South African strains were clearly distinct from the other South African strains. Further DNA microarray analysis demonstrated that the HS:41 strains from South African patients with the Guillain-Barré syndrome or enteritis were highly similar in gene content. Interestingly, the South African HS:41 strains were distinct in gene content when compared to HS:41 strains from other geographical locations due to the presence of genomic islands, referred to as Campylobacter jejuni integrated elements (CJIEs). Only the integrated element CJIE1, a Campylobacter Mu-like prophage, was present in the South African HS:41 strains whereas this element was absent in two closely-related HS:41 strains from Mexico. A more distantly-related HS:41 strain from Canada possessed both integrated elements CJIE1 and CJIE2. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: These findings demonstrate that CJIEs may contribute to the differentiation of closely-related C. jejuni strains. In addition, the presence of bacteriophage-related genes in CJIE1 may contribute to the genomic diversity of C. jejuni strains. This comparative genomic analysis of C. jejuni provides fundamental information that potentially could lead to improved methods for analyzing the epidemiology of disease outbreaks

Hematopoietic Cell Fate and the Initiation of Leukemic Properties in Primitive Primary Human Cells Are Influenced by Ras Activity and Farnesyltransferase Inhibition

The Ras pathway transduces divergent signals determining normal cell fate and is frequently activated in hematopoietic malignancies, but the manner in which activation contributes to human leukemia is poorly understood. We report that a high level of activated H-Ras signaling in transduced primary human hematopoietic progenitors reduced their proliferation and enhanced monocyte/macrophage differentiation. However, the exposure of these cells to a farnesyltransferase inhibitor and establishment of a moderate level of Ras activity showed increased proliferation, an elevated frequency of primitive blast-like cells, and progenitors with enhanced self-renewal capacity. These results suggest that the amplitude of Ras pathway signaling is a determinant of myeloid cell fate and that moderate Ras activation in primitive hematopoietic cells can be an early event in leukemogenesis

Novel surface markers directed against adult human gallbladder

Novel cell surface-reactive monoclonal antibodies generated against extrahepatic biliary cells were developed for the isolation and characterization of different cell subsets from normal adult human gallbladder. Eleven antigenically distinct gallbladder subpopulations were isolated by fluorescence-activated cell sorting. They were classified into epithelial, mesenchymal, and pancreatobiliary (PDX1+SOX9+) subsets based on gene expression profiling. These antigenically distinct human gallbladder cell subsets could potentially also reflect different functional properties in regards to bile physiology, cell renewal and plasticity. Three of the novel monoclonal antibodies differentially labeled archival sections of primary carcinoma of human gallbladder relative to normal tissue. The novel monoclonal antibodies described herein enable the identification and characterization of antigenically diverse cell subsets within adult human gallbladder and are putative tumor biomarkers