Stem cells
Abstract
Diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness in working-age adults. It is caused by oxygen starvation in the retina inducing aberrant formation of blood vessels that destroy retinal architecture. In humans, vitreal stromal cell–derived factor–1 (SDF-1) concentration increases as proliferative diabetic retinopathy progresses. Treatment of patients with triamcinolone decreases SDF-1 levels in the vitreous, with marked disease improvement. SDF-1 induces human retinal endothelial cells to increase expression of VCAM-1, a receptor for very late antigen–4 found on many hematopoietic progenitors, and reduce tight cellular junctions by reducing occludin expression. Both changes would serve to recruit hematopoietic and endothelial progenitor cells along an SDF-1 gradient. We have shown, using a murine model of proliferative adult retinopathy, that the majority of new vessels formed in response to oxygen starvation originate from hematopoietic stem cell–derived endothelial progenitor cells. We now show that the levels of SDF-1 found in patients with proliferative retinopathy induce retinopathy in our murine model. Intravitreal injection of blocking antibodies to SDF-1 prevented retinal neovascularization in our murine model, even in the presence of exogenous VEGF. Together, these data demonstrate that SDF-1 plays a major role in proliferative retinopathy and may be an ideal target for the prevention of proliferative retinopathy.
Authors
Jason M. Butler, Steven M. Guthrie, Mehmet Koc, Aqeela Afzal, Sergio Caballero, H. Logan Brooks, Robert N. Mames, Mark S. Segal, Maria B. Grant, Edward W. Scott
Abstract
Pluripotent bone marrow–derived side population (BM-SP) stem cells have been shown to repopulate the hematopoietic system and to contribute to skeletal and cardiac muscle regeneration after transplantation. We tested BM-SP cells for their ability to regenerate heart and skeletal muscle using a model of cardiomyopathy and muscular dystrophy that lacks δ-sarcoglycan. The absence of δ-sarcoglycan produces microinfarcts in heart and skeletal muscle that should recruit regenerative stem cells. Additionally, sarcoglycan expression after transplantation should mark successful stem cell maturation into cardiac and skeletal muscle lineages. BM-SP cells from normal male mice were transplanted into female δ-sarcoglycan–null mice. We detected engraftment of donor-derived stem cells into skeletal muscle, with the majority of donor-derived cells incorporated within myofibers. In the heart, donor-derived nuclei were detected inside cardiomyocytes. Skeletal muscle myofibers containing donor-derived nuclei generally failed to express sarcoglycan, with only 2 sarcoglycan-positive fibers detected in the quadriceps muscle from all 14 mice analyzed. Moreover, all cardiomyocytes with donor-derived nuclei were sarcoglycan-negative. The absence of sarcoglycan expression in cardiomyocytes and skeletal myofibers after transplantation indicates impaired differentiation and/or maturation of bone marrow–derived stem cells. The inability of BM-SP cells to express this protein severely limits their utility for cardiac and skeletal muscle regeneration.
Authors
Karen A. Lapidos, Yiyin E. Chen, Judy U. Earley, Ahlke Heydemann, Jill M. Huber, Marcia Chien, Averil Ma, Elizabeth M. McNally
Abstract
Inherited retinal degenerations afflict 1 in 3,500 individuals and are a heterogeneous group of diseases that result in profound vision loss, usually the result of retinal neuronal apoptosis. Atrophic changes in the retinal vasculature are also observed in many of these degenerations. While it is thought that this atrophy is secondary to diminished metabolic demand in the face of retinal degeneration, the precise relationship between the retinal neuronal and vascular degeneration is not clear. In this study we demonstrate that whenever a fraction of mouse or human adult bone marrow–derived stem cells (lineage-negative hematopoietic stem cells [Lin– HSCs]) containing endothelial precursors stabilizes and rescues retinal blood vessels that would ordinarily completely degenerate, a dramatic neurotrophic rescue effect is also observed. Retinal nuclear layers are preserved in 2 mouse models of retinal degeneration, rd1 and rd10, and detectable, albeit severely abnormal, electroretinogram recordings are observed in rescued mice at times when they are never observed in control-treated or untreated eyes. The normal mouse retina consists predominantly of rods, but the rescued cells after treatment with Lin– HSCs are nearly all cones. Microarray analysis of rescued retinas demonstrates significant upregulation of many antiapoptotic genes, including small heat shock proteins and transcription factors. These results suggest a new paradigm for thinking about the relationship between vasculature and associated retinal neuronal tissue as well as a potential treatment for delaying the progression of vision loss associated with retinal degeneration regardless of the underlying genetic defect.
Authors
Atsushi Otani, Michael Ian Dorrell, Karen Kinder, Stacey K. Moreno, Steven Nusinowitz, Eyal Banin, John Heckenlively, Martin Friedlander
Abstract
Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a common X-linked disease characterized by widespread muscle damage that invariably leads to paralysis and death. There is currently no therapy for this disease. Here we report that a subpopulation of circulating cells expressing AC133, a well-characterized marker of hematopoietic stem cells, also expresses early myogenic markers. Freshly isolated, circulating AC133+ cells were induced to undergo myogenesis when cocultured with myogenic cells or exposed to Wnt-producing cells in vitro and when delivered in vivo through the arterial circulation or directly into the muscles of transgenic scid/mdx mice (which allow survival of human cells). Injected cells also localized under the basal lamina of host muscle fibers and expressed satellite cell markers such as M-cadherin and MYF5. Furthermore, functional tests of injected muscles revealed a substantial recovery of force after treatment. As these cells can be isolated from the blood, manipulated in vitro, and delivered through the circulation, they represent a possible tool for future cell therapy applications in DMD disease or other muscular dystrophies.
Authors
Yvan Torrente, Marzia Belicchi, Maurilio Sampaolesi, Federica Pisati, Mirella Meregalli, Giuseppe D’Antona, Rossana Tonlorenzi, Laura Porretti, Manuela Gavina, Kamel Mamchaoui, Maria Antonietta Pellegrino, Denis Furling, Vincent Mouly, Gillian S. Butler-Browne, Roberto Bottinelli, Giulio Cossu, Nereo Bresolin
Abstract
Several recent reports have demonstrated that transplantation of bone marrow cells can result in the generation of functional hepatocytes. Cellular fusion between bone marrow–derived cells and host hepatocytes has been shown to be the mechanism of this phenomenon. However, the exact identity of the bone marrow cells that mediate cellular fusion has remained undetermined. Here we demonstrate that the hematopoietic progeny of a single hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) is sufficient to produce functional hepatic repopulation. Furthermore, transplantation of lymphocyte-deficient bone marrow cells and in vivo fate mapping of the myeloid lineage revealed that HSC-derived hepatocytes are primarily derived from mature myelomonocytic cells. In addition, using a Cre/lox–based strategy, we directly demonstrate that myeloid cells spontaneously fuse with host hepatocytes. Our findings raise the possibility that differentiated myeloid cells may be useful for future therapeutic applications of in vivo cellular fusion.
Authors
Fernando D. Camargo, Milton Finegold, Margaret A. Goodell
Abstract
Given our recent discovery that it is possible to separate human epidermal stem cells of the skin from their more committed progeny (i.e., transit-amplifying cells and early differentiating cells) using FACS techniques, we sought to determine the comparative tissue regeneration ability of these keratinocyte progenitors. We demonstrate that the ability to regenerate a fully stratified epidermis with appropriate spatial and temporal expression of differentiation markers in a short-term in vitro organotypic culture system is an intrinsic characteristic of both epidermal stem and transit-amplifying cells, although the stem cell fraction is most capable of achieving homeostasis. Early differentiating keratinocytes exhibited limited short-term tissue regeneration under specific experimental conditions in this assay, although significant improvement was obtained by manipulating microenvironmental factors, that is, coculture with minimally passaged dermal cells or exogenous supply of the ECM protein laminin-10/11. Importantly, transplantation of all classes of keratinocyte progenitors into an in vivo setting demonstrated that tissue regeneration can be elicited from stem, transit-amplifying, and early differentiating keratinocytes for up to 10 weeks. These data illustrate that significant proliferative and tissue-regenerative capacity resides not only in keratinocyte stem cells as expected, but also in their more committed progeny, including early differentiating cells.
Authors
Amy Li, Normand Pouliot, Richard Redvers, Pritinder Kaur
Abstract
The mitochondrial genome encodes 13 essential subunits of the respiratory chain and has remarkable genetics based on uniparental inheritance. Within human populations, the mitochondrial genome has a high rate of sequence divergence with multiple polymorphic variants and thus has played a major role in examining the evolutionary history of our species. In recent years it has also become apparent that pathogenic mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations play an important role in neurological and other diseases. Patients harbor many different mtDNA mutations, some of which are mtDNA mutations, some of which are inherited, but others that seem to be sporadic. It has also been suggested that mtDNA mutations play a role in aging and cancer, but the evidence for a causative role in these conditions is less clear. The accumulated data would suggest, however, that mtDNA mutations occur on a frequent basis. In this article we describe a new phenomenon: the accumulation of mtDNA mutations in human colonic crypt stem cells that result in a significant biochemical defect in their progeny. These studies have important consequences not only for understanding of the finding of mtDNA mutations in aging tissues and tumors, but also for determining the frequency of mtDNA mutations within a cell.
Authors
Robert W. Taylor, Martin J. Barron, Gillian M. Borthwick, Amy Gospel, Patrick F. Chinnery, David C. Samuels, Geoffrey A. Taylor, Stefan M. Plusa, Stephanie J. Needham, Laura C. Greaves, Thomas B.L. Kirkwood, Douglass M. Turnbull
Abstract
Hematopoietic stem cells rarely contribute to hepatic regeneration, however, the mechanisms governing their homing to the liver, which is a crucial first step, are poorly understood. The chemokine stromal cell–derived factor-1 (SDF-1), which attracts human and murine progenitors, is expressed by liver bile duct epithelium. Neutralization of the SDF-1 receptor CXCR4 abolished homing and engraftment of the murine liver by human CD34+ hematopoietic progenitors, while local injection of human SDF-1 increased their homing. Engrafted human cells were localized in clusters surrounding the bile ducts, in close proximity to SDF-1–expressing epithelial cells, and differentiated into albumin-producing cells. Irradiation or inflammation increased SDF-1 levels and hepatic injury induced MMP-9 activity, leading to both increased CXCR4 expression and SDF-1–mediated recruitment of hematopoietic progenitors to the liver. Unexpectedly, HGF, which is increased following liver injury, promoted protrusion formation, CXCR4 upregulation, and SDF-1–mediated directional migration by human CD34+ progenitors, and synergized with stem cell factor. Thus, stress-induced signals, such as increased expression of SDF-1, MMP-9, and HGF, recruit human CD34+ progenitors with hematopoietic and/or hepatic-like potential to the liver of NOD/SCID mice. Our results suggest the potential of hematopoietic CD34+/CXCR4+cells to respond to stress signals from nonhematopoietic injured organs as an important mechanism for tissue targeting and repair.
Authors
Orit Kollet, Shoham Shivtiel, Yuan-Qing Chen, Jenny Suriawinata, Swan N. Thung, Mariana D. Dabeva, Joy Kahn, Asaf Spiegel, Ayelet Dar, Sarit Samira, Polina Goichberg, Alexander Kalinkovich, Fernando Arenzana-Seisdedos, Arnon Nagler, Izhar Hardan, Michel Revel, David A. Shafritz, Tsvee Lapidot
Abstract
The paradigm for recovery of the renal tubule from acute tubular necrosis is that surviving cells from the areas bordering the injury must migrate into the regions of tubular denudation and proliferate to re-establish the normal tubular epithelium. However, therapies aimed at stimulating these events have failed to alter the course of acute renal failure in human trials. In the present study, we demonstrate that Lin–Sca-1+ cells from the adult mouse bone marrow are mobilized into the circulation by transient renal ischemia and home specifically to injured regions of the renal tubule. There they differentiate into renal tubular epithelial cells and appear to constitute the majority of the cells present in the previously necrotic tubules. Loss of stem cells following bone marrow ablation results in a greater rise in blood urea nitrogen after renal ischemia, while stem cell infusion after bone marrow ablation reverses this effect. Thus, therapies aimed at enhancing the mobilization, propagation, and/or delivery of bone marrow stem cells to the kidney hold potential as entirely new approaches for the treatment of acute tubular necrosis.
Authors
Sujata Kale, Anil Karihaloo, Paul R. Clark, Michael Kashgarian, Diane S. Krause, Lloyd G. Cantley
Abstract
The only curative therapy for sickle cell disease (SCD) is allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) transplantation. Gene therapy approaches for autologous HSC transplantation are being developed. Although earlier engraftment is seen when cells from GCSF-mobilized blood are transplanted than when bone marrow is transplanted, administration of GCSF to patients with SCD can cause significant morbidity. We tested whether primitive hematopoietic progenitors are spontaneously mobilized in the blood of patients with SCD during acute crisis (AC-SCD patients). The frequency of myeloid-lymphoid–initiating cells (ML-ICs) and SCID-repopulating cells (SRCs) was significantly higher in blood from AC-SCD patients than in blood from patients with steady-state SCD or from normal donors. The presence of SRCs in peripheral blood was not associated with detection of long-term culture–initiating cells, consistent with the notion that SRCs are more primitive than long-term culture–initiating cells. As ML-ICs and SRCs were both detected in blood of AC-SCD patients only, these assays may both measure primitive progenitors. The frequency of ML-ICs also correlated with increases in stem cell factor, GCSF, and IL-8 levels in AC-SCD compared with steady-state SCD and normal-donor sera. Because significant numbers of ML-ICs and SRCs are mobilized in the blood without exogenous cytokine treatment during acute crisis of SCD, collection of peripheral blood progenitors during crisis may yield a source of autologous HSCs suitable for ex-vivo correction by gene therapy approaches and subsequent transplantation.
Authors
Christopher E.D. Lamming, Lance Augustin, Mark Blackstad, Troy C. Lund, Robert P. Hebbel, Catherine M. Verfaillie
Copyright © 2023 American Society for Clinical Investigation
ISSN: 0021-9738 (print), 1558-8238 (online)