Cell Surface Changes of Hemopoietic Cells During Normal and Leukemic Differentiation: An Immuno-Scanning Electron Microscopy Study

Hemopoietic cells display a wide range of cell surface antigens which are either lineage specific or acquired during differentiation. Monoclonal antibodies can be used, in conjunction with colloidal gold markers, to identify under the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) at the single cell level, specific lineage or maturation stages in the hemopoietic bone marrow. Normal bone marrow cells, either gradient separated or purified by immuno-magnetic methods and leukemic cell samples, which can be considered as frozen stages of hemopoietic differentiation, have been studied with this method. Typical cell surface morphologies, which characterize immature progenitor cells and cells committed or differentiated towards the lymphoid, myeloid, erythroid and megakaryocytic lineage have been identified. Correlations between cell surface features and some hemopoietic cells functions have been attempted on the basis of these findings

Anti-L-NGFR and -CD34 Monoclonal Antibodies Identify Multipotent Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Human Adipose Tissue

Stem cells hold great promise in tissue engineering for repairing tissues damaged by disease or injury. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are multipotent cells able to proliferate and differentiate into multiple mesodermal tissues such as bone, cartilage, muscle, tendon, and fat. We have previously reported that the low-affinity nerve growth factor receptor (L-NGFR or CD271) defines a subset of cells with high proliferative, clonogenic, and multipotential differentiation ability in adult bone marrow (BM). It has been recently shown that adipose tissue is an alternative source of adult multipotent stem cells and human Adipose-derived Stem Cells, selected by plastic adherence (PA hASCs), have been extensively characterized for their functional potentials in vitro. In this study, immunoselected L-NGFR+ and CD34+ subpopulations have been analyzed and compared with the PA hASCs. Phenotypic profile of freshly purified subpopulations showed an enrichment in the expression of some stem cell markers; indeed, a great percentage of L-NGFR+ cells co-expressed CD34 and CD117 antigens, whereas the endothelial-committed progenitor markers KDR and P1H12 were mainly expressed on CD34+ cells. Differently from PA hASCs, the immunoseparated fractions showed high increments in cell proliferation, and the fibroblast colony-forming activity (CFU-F) was maintained throughout the time of culture. Furthermore, the immunoselected populations showed a greater differentiative potential toward adipocytes, osteoblasts, and chondrocyte-like cells, compared to PA hASCs. Our data suggest that both CD34+ and L-NGFR+ hASCs can be considered alternative candidates for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications

CD271-selected mesenchymal stem cells from adipose tissue enhance cartilage repair and are less angiogenic than plastic adherent mesenchymal stem cells

CD271 is a marker of bone marrow MSCs with enhanced differentiation capacity for bone or cartilage repair. However, the nature of CD271+ MSCs from adipose tissue (AT) is less well understood. Here, we investigated the differentiation, wound healing and angiogenic capacity of plastic adherent MSCs (PA MSCs) versus CD271+ MSCs from AT. There was no difference in the extent to which PA MSCs and CD271+ MSCs formed osteoblasts, adipocytes or chondrocytes in vitro. In contrast, CD271+ MSCs transplanted into athymic rats significantly enhanced osteochondral wound healing with reduced vascularisation in the repair tissue compared to PA MSCs and control animals; there was little histological evidence of mature articular cartilage formation in all animals. Conditioned medium from CD271+ MSC cultures was less angiogenic than PA MSC conditioned medium, and had little effect on endothelial cell migration or endothelial tubule formation in vitro. The low angiogenic activity of CD271+ MSCs and improved early stage tissue repair of osteochondral lesions when transplanted, along with a comparable differentiation capacity along mesenchymal lineages when induced, suggests that these selected cells are a better candidate than PA MSCs for the repair of cartilaginous tissue

Bone marrow endothelial progenitors are defective in systemic sclerosis

Objective. Vascular abnormalities represent the main component of the pathobiol. of systemic sclerosis (SSc), progressing from structural derangements of the microcirculation with abortive neoangiogenesis to final vessel loss. Since circulating endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are important in the vascular repair process, we undertook this study to examine their nos. in the peripheral blood (PB) of SSc patients and to evaluate whether their status is related to impaired quant. and/or qual. aspects of the bone marrow (BM) microenvironment. Methods. Circulating EPCs from 62 SSc patients were evaluated by flow cytometry and characterized as CD45 neg. and CD133 pos. BM EPCs, identified as CD133 pos., were isolated from 14 SSc patients and grown to induce endothelial differentiation. In addn., progenitor nos. and functional properties of hematopoietic and stromal compartments were analyzed by various assays. Results. We found that EPCs were detectable in the PB of patients with SSc, and their no. was significantly increased in patients with early-stage disease but not in those with late-stage disease. All of the examd. BM samples contained reduced nos. of EPCs and stromal cells, both of which were functionally impaired. Both endothelial and stromal progenitors expressed vascular endothelial growth factor receptor, indicating that BM is strongly induced to differentiate into the endothelial lineage; furthermore, only BM EPCs from patients with early disease led to endothelial differentiation in vitro. Conclusion. This study provides the first demonstration that in SSc, there is a complex impairment in the BM microenvironment involving both the endothelial and mesenchymal stem cell compartments and that this impairment might play a role in defective vasculogenesis in scleroderma. [on SciFinder (R)

Adventage of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) expansion directly from purified bone marrow CD105^+ and CD271^+ cells

Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSC) are employed in gene and cellular therapies. Routinely MSC are isolated from bone marrow mononuclear cells (MNC) by plastic adherence. Here we compared new isolation strategies of bone marrow MSC including immunodepletion of hematopoietic cells and immunomagnetic isolation of CD105+ and CD271+ populations. Four fractions were obtained: MNC MSC, RosetteSep-isolated MSC, CD105+ and CD271+ sorted MSC. We evaluated i) number of CFU-F colonies, ii) cell phenotype, iii) in vitro differentiation of expanded cells and iv) expression of osteo/adipogenesis related genes. Results: Average number of day 9 CFU-F colonies was the highest for CD271 positive fraction. Real-Time PCR analysis revealed expression of RUNX2, PPARgamma and N-cadherin in isolated cells, particularly high in CD271+ cells. Expression of CD105, CD166, CD44, CD73 antigens was comparable for all expanded populations (over 90%). We observed various levels of hematopoietic contamination with the highest numbers of CD45+ cells in MNC-MSC fraction and the lowest in CD105+ and CD271+ fractions. Cells of all the fractions were CD34 antigen negative. Expanded CD105 and CD271 populations showed higher level of RUNX2, osteocalcin, PTHR, leptin, PPARgamma2 and aggrecan1 genes except for alpha1 collagen. After osteogenic differentiation CD105+ and CD271+ populations showed lower expression of RUNX, PPARgamma2 and also lower expression of osteocalcin and PTHR than MNC, with comparable alpha1-collagen expression. Chondrogenic and adipogenic gene expression was higher in MNC. More clonogenic CD105+ and particularly CD271+ cells, which seem to be the most homogenous fractions based on Real-Time PCR and immunostaining data, are better suited for MSC expansion

Very Small Embryonic-Like Stem Cells Purified from Umbilical Cord Blood Lack Stem Cell Characteristics

Very small embryonic-like (VSEL) cells have been described as putatively pluripotent stem cells present in murine bone marrow and human umbilical cord blood (hUCB) and as such are of high potential interest for regenerative medicine. However, there remain some questions concerning the precise identity and properties of VSEL cells, particularly those derived from hUCB. For this reason, we have carried out an extensive characterisation of purified populations of VSEL cells from a large number of UCB samples. Consistent with a previous report, we find that VSEL cells are CXCR4+, have a high density, are indeed significantly smaller than HSC and have an extremely high nuclear/cytoplasmic ratio. Their nucleoplasm is unstructured and stains strongly with Hoechst 33342. A comprehensive FACS screen for surface markers characteristic of embryonic, mesenchymal, neuronal or hematopoietic stem cells revealed negligible expression on VSEL cells. These cells failed to expand in vitro under a wide range of culture conditions known to support embryonic or adult stem cell types and a microarray analysis revealed the transcriptional profile of VSEL cells to be clearly distinct both from well-defined populations of pluripotent and adult stem cells and from the mature hematopoietic lineages. Finally, we detected an aneuploid karyotype in the majority of purified VSEL cells by fluorescence in situ hybridisation. These data support neither an embryonic nor an adult stem cell like phenotype, suggesting rather that hUCB VSEL cells are an aberrant and inactive population that is not comparable to murine VSEL cells

Mesodermal fate decisions of a stem cell: the Wnt switch

Stem cells are a powerful resource for cell-based transplantation therapies in osteodegenerative disorders, but before some kinds of stem cells can be applied clinically, several aspects of their expansion and differentiation need to be better controlled. Wnt molecules and members of the Wnt signaling cascade have been ascribed a role in both these processes in vitro as well as normal development in vivo. However some results are controversial. In this review we will present the hypothesis that both canonical and non-canonical signaling are involved in mesenchymal cell fate regulation, such as adipogenesis, chondrogenesis and osteogenesis, and that in vitro it is a timely switch between the two that specifies the identity of the differentiating cell. We will specifically focus on the in vitro differentiation of adipocytes, chondrocytes and osteoblasts contrasting embryonic and mesenchymal stem cells as well as the role of Wnts in mesenchymal fate specification during embryogenesis

Mesenchymal Stem Cell Graft Improves Recovery after Spinal Cord Injury in Adult Rats through Neurotrophic and Pro-Angiogenic Actions

Numerous strategies have been managed to improve functional recovery after spinal cord injury (SCI) but an optimal strategy doesn't exist yet. Actually, it is the complexity of the injured spinal cord pathophysiology that begets the multifactorial approaches assessed to favour tissue protection, axonal regrowth and functional recovery. In this context, it appears that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) could take an interesting part. The aim of this study is to graft MSCs after a spinal cord compression injury in adult rat to assess their effect on functional recovery and to highlight their mechanisms of action. We found that in intravenously grafted animals, MSCs induce, as early as 1 week after the graft, an improvement of their open field and grid navigation scores compared to control animals. At the histological analysis of their dissected spinal cord, no MSCs were found within the host despite their BrdU labelling performed before the graft, whatever the delay observed: 7, 14 or 21 days. However, a cytokine array performed on spinal cord extracts 3 days after MSC graft reveals a significant increase of NGF expression in the injured tissue. Also, a significant tissue sparing effect of MSC graft was observed. Finally, we also show that MSCs promote vascularisation, as the density of blood vessels within the lesioned area was higher in grafted rats. In conclusion, we bring here some new evidences that MSCs most likely act throughout their secretions and not via their own integration/differentiation within the host tissue