Dependency on the polycomb gene Ezh2 distinguishes fetal from adult hematopoietic stem cells

Blood ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 118 (25) ◽  
pp. 6553-6561 ◽  
Author(s):  
Makiko Mochizuki-Kashio ◽  
Yuta Mishima ◽  
Satoru Miyagi ◽  
Masamitsu Negishi ◽  
Atsunori Saraya ◽  
...  

Abstract Polycomb-group (PcG) proteins are essential regulators of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). In contrast to Bmi1, a component of Polycomb repressive complex 1 (PRC1), the role of PRC2 and its components in hematopoiesis remains elusive. Here we show that Ezh2, a core component of PRC2, is essential for fetal, but not adult, HSCs. Ezh2-deficient embryos died of anemia because of insufficient expansion of HSCs/progenitor cells and defective erythropoiesis in fetal liver. Deletion of Ezh2 in adult BM, however, did not significantly compromise hematopoiesis, except for lymphopoiesis. Of note, Ezh2-deficient fetal liver cells showed a drastic reduction in trimethylation of histone H3 at lysine 27 (H3K27me3) accompanied by derepression of a large cohort of genes, whereas on homing to BM, they acquired a high level of H3K27me3 and long-term repopulating capacity. Quantitative RT-PCR revealed that Ezh1, the gene encoding a backup enzyme, is highly expressed in HSCs/progenitor cells in BM compared with those in fetal liver, whereas Ezh2 is ubiquitously expressed. These findings suggest that Ezh1 complements Ezh2 in the BM, but not in the fetal liver, and reveal that the reinforcement of PcG-mediated gene silencing occurs during the transition from proliferative fetal HSCs to quiescent adult HSCs.

Author(s):  
Wanbo Tang ◽  
Jian He ◽  
Tao Huang ◽  
Zhijie Bai ◽  
Chaojie Wang ◽  
...  

In the aorta-gonad-mesonephros (AGM) region of mouse embryos, pre-hematopoietic stem cells (pre-HSCs) are generated from rare and specialized hemogenic endothelial cells (HECs) via endothelial-to-hematopoietic transition, followed by maturation into bona fide hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). As HECs also generate a lot of hematopoietic progenitors not fated to HSCs, powerful tools that are pre-HSC/HSC-specific become urgently critical. Here, using the gene knockin strategy, we firstly developed an Hlf-tdTomato reporter mouse model and detected Hlf-tdTomato expression exclusively in the hematopoietic cells including part of the immunophenotypic CD45– and CD45+ pre-HSCs in the embryonic day (E) 10.5 AGM region. By in vitro co-culture together with long-term transplantation assay stringent for HSC precursor identification, we further revealed that unlike the CD45– counterpart in which both Hlf-tdTomato-positive and negative sub-populations harbored HSC competence, the CD45+ E10.5 pre-HSCs existed exclusively in Hlf-tdTomato-positive cells. The result indicates that the cells should gain the expression of Hlf prior to or together with CD45 to give rise to functional HSCs. Furthermore, we constructed a novel Hlf-CreER mouse model and performed time-restricted genetic lineage tracing by a single dose induction at E9.5. We observed the labeling in E11.5 AGM precursors and their contribution to the immunophenotypic HSCs in fetal liver (FL). Importantly, these Hlf-labeled early cells contributed to and retained the size of the HSC pool in the bone marrow (BM), which continuously differentiated to maintain a balanced and long-term multi-lineage hematopoiesis in the adult. Therefore, we provided another valuable mouse model to specifically trace the fate of emerging HSCs during development.


Blood ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 114 (22) ◽  
pp. 1799-1799
Author(s):  
Ingmar Bruns ◽  
Sebastian Büst ◽  
Akos G. Czibere ◽  
Ron-Patrick Cadeddu ◽  
Ines Brückmann ◽  
...  

Abstract Abstract 1799 Poster Board I-825 Multiple myeloma (MM) patients often present with anemia at the time of initial diagnosis. This has so far only attributed to a physically marrow suppression by the invading malignant plasma cells and the overexpression of Fas-L and tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) by malignant plasma cells triggering the death of immature erythroblasts. Still the impact of MM on hematopoietic stem cells and their niches is scarcely established. In this study we analyzed highly purified CD34+ hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell subsets from the bone marrow of newly diagnosed MM patients in comparison to normal donors. Quantitative flowcytometric analyses revealed a significant reduction of the megakaryocyte-erythrocyte progenitor (MEP) proportion in MM patients, whereas the percentage of granulocyte-macrophage progenitors (GMP) was significantly increased. Proportions of hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) and myeloid progenitors (CMP) were not significantly altered. We then asked if this is also reflected by clonogenic assays and found a significantly decreased percentage of erythroid precursors (BFU-E and CFU-E). Using Affymetrix HU133 2.0 gene arrays, we compared the gene expression signatures of stem cells and progenitor subsets in MM patients and healthy donors. The most striking findings so far reflect reduced adhesive and migratory potential, impaired self-renewal capacity and disturbed B-cell development in HSC whereas the MEP expression profile reflects decreased in cell cycle activity and enhanced apoptosis. In line we found a decreased expression of the adhesion molecule CD44 and a reduced actin polymerization in MM HSC by immunofluorescence analysis. Accordingly, in vitro adhesion and transwell migration assays showed reduced adhesive and migratory capacities. The impaired self-renewal capacity of MM HSC was functionally corroborated by a significantly decreased long-term culture initiating cell (LTC-IC) frequency in long term culture assays. Cell cycle analyses revealed a significantly larger proportion of MM MEP in G0-phase of the cell cycle. Furthermore, the proportion of apoptotic cells in MM MEP determined by the content of cleaved caspase 3 was increased as compared to MEP from healthy donors. Taken together, our findings indicate an impact of MM on the molecular phenotype and functional properties of stem and progenitor cells. Anemia in MM seems at least partially to originate already at the stem and progenitor level. Disclosures Off Label Use: AML with multikinase inhibitor sorafenib, which is approved by EMEA + FDA for renal cell carcinoma.


Blood ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 96 (12) ◽  
pp. 3757-3762 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hsiang-Chun Hsu ◽  
Hideo Ema ◽  
Mitsujiro Osawa ◽  
Yukio Nakamura ◽  
Toshio Suda ◽  
...  

Tie-2 receptor tyrosine kinase expressed in endothelial and hematopoietic cells is believed to play a role in both angiogenesis and hematopoiesis during development of the mouse embryo. This article addressed whether Tie-2 is expressed on fetal liver hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) at day 14 of gestation. With the use of anti–Tie-2 monoclonal antibody, its expression was detected in approximately 7% of an HSC population of Kit-positive, Sca-1–positive, lineage-negative or -low, and AA4.1-positive (KSLA) cells. These Tie-2–positive KSLA (T+ KSLA) cells represent 0.01% to 0.02% of fetal liver cells. In vitro colony and in vivo competitive repopulation assays were performed for T+ KSLA cells and Tie-2–negative KSLA (T− KSLA) cells. In the presence of stem cell factor, interleukin-3, and erythropoietin, 80% of T+ KSLA cells formed colonies in vitro, compared with 40% of T− KSLA cells. Long-term multilineage repopulating cells were detected in T+ KSLA cells, but not in T− KSLA cells. An in vivo limiting dilution analysis revealed that at least 1 of 8 T+ KSLA cells were such repopulating cells. The successful secondary transplantation initiated with a limited number of T+ KSLA cells suggests that these cells have self-renewal potential. In addition, engraftment of T+ KSLA cells in conditioned newborn mice indicates that these HSCs can be adapted equally by the adult and newborn hematopoietic environments. The data suggest that T+ KSLA cells represent HSCs in the murine fetal liver.


Blood ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 101 (1) ◽  
pp. 112-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mo A. Dao ◽  
Jesusa Arevalo ◽  
Jan A. Nolta

Abstract The cell surface protein CD34 is frequently used as a marker for positive selection of human hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells in research and in transplantation. However, populations of reconstituting human and murine stem cells that lack cell surface CD34 protein have been identified. In the current studies, we demonstrate that CD34 expression is reversible on human hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells. We identified and functionally characterized a population of human CD45+/CD34− cells that was recovered from the bone marrow of immunodeficient beige/nude/xid (bnx) mice 8 to 12 months after transplantation of highly purified human bone marrow–derived CD34+/CD38− stem/progenitor cells. The human CD45+ cells were devoid of CD34 protein and mRNA when isolated from the mice. However, significantly higher numbers of human colony-forming units and long-term culture-initiating cells per engrafted human CD45+ cell were recovered from the marrow of bnx mice than from the marrow of human stem cell–engrafted nonobese diabetic/severe combined immunodeficient mice, where 24% of the human graft maintained CD34 expression. In addition to their capacity for extensive in vitro generative capacity, the human CD45+/CD34− cells recovered from thebnx bone marrow were determined to have secondary reconstitution capacity and to produce CD34+ progeny following retransplantation. These studies demonstrate that the human CD34+ population can act as a reservoir for generation of CD34− cells. In the current studies we demonstrate that human CD34+/CD38− cells can generate CD45+/CD34− progeny in a long-term xenograft model and that those CD45+/CD34− cells can regenerate CD34+ progeny following secondary transplantation. Therefore, expression of CD34 can be reversible on reconstituting human hematopoietic stem cells.


2000 ◽  
Vol 192 (12) ◽  
pp. 1785-1796 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bianca Blom ◽  
Stephen Ho ◽  
Svetlana Antonenko ◽  
Yong-Jun Liu

Upon viral stimulation, the natural interferon (IFN)-α/β–producing cells (IPCs; also known as pre-dendritic cells (DCs 2) in human blood and peripheral lymphoid tissues rapidly produce huge amounts of IFN-α/β. After performing this innate antiviral immune response, IPCs can differentiate into DCs and strongly stimulate T cell–mediated adaptive immune responses. Using four-color immunofluorescence flow cytometry, we have mapped the developmental pathway of pre-DC2/IPCs from CD34+ hematopoietic stem cells in human fetal liver, bone marrow, and cord blood. At least four developmental stages were identified, including CD34++CD45RA− early progenitor cells, CD34++CD45RA+ late progenitor cells, CD34+CD45RA++CD4+interleukin (IL)-3Rα++ pro-DC2, and CD34−CD45RA++ CD4+IL-3Rα++ pre-DC2/IPCs. Pro-DC2s have already acquired the capacity to produce large amounts of IFN-α/β upon viral stimulation and to differentiate into DCs in culture with IL-3 and CD40 ligand. CD34++CD45RA− early progenitor cells did not have the capacity to produce large amounts of IFN-α/β in response to viral stimulation; however, they can be induced to undergo proliferation and differentiation into IPCs/pre-DC2 in culture with FLT3 ligand.


1984 ◽  
Vol 159 (3) ◽  
pp. 731-745 ◽  
Author(s):  
R A Fleischman ◽  
B Mintz

Bone marrow of normal adult mice was found, after transplacental inoculation, to contain cells still able to seed the livers of early fetuses. The recipients' own hematopoietic stem cells, with a W-mutant defect, were at a selective disadvantage. Progression of donor strain cells to the bone marrow, long-term self-renewal, and differentiation into myeloid and lymphoid derivatives was consistent with the engraftment of totipotent hematopoietic stem cells (THSC) comparable to precursors previously identified (4) in normal fetal liver. More limited stem cells, specific for the myeloid or lymphoid cell lineages, were not detected in adult bone marrow. The bone marrow THSC, however, had a generally lower capacity for self-renewal than did fetal liver THSC. They had also embarked upon irreversible changes in gene expression, including partial histocompatibility restriction. While completely allogeneic fetal liver THSC were readily accepted by fetuses, H-2 incompatibility only occasionally resulted in engraftment of adult bone marrow cells and, in these cases, was often associated with sudden death at 3-5 mo. On the other hand, H-2 compatibility, even with histocompatibility differences at other loci, was sufficient to ensure long-term success as often as with fetal liver THSC.


Blood ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 96 (12) ◽  
pp. 3757-3762 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hsiang-Chun Hsu ◽  
Hideo Ema ◽  
Mitsujiro Osawa ◽  
Yukio Nakamura ◽  
Toshio Suda ◽  
...  

Abstract Tie-2 receptor tyrosine kinase expressed in endothelial and hematopoietic cells is believed to play a role in both angiogenesis and hematopoiesis during development of the mouse embryo. This article addressed whether Tie-2 is expressed on fetal liver hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) at day 14 of gestation. With the use of anti–Tie-2 monoclonal antibody, its expression was detected in approximately 7% of an HSC population of Kit-positive, Sca-1–positive, lineage-negative or -low, and AA4.1-positive (KSLA) cells. These Tie-2–positive KSLA (T+ KSLA) cells represent 0.01% to 0.02% of fetal liver cells. In vitro colony and in vivo competitive repopulation assays were performed for T+ KSLA cells and Tie-2–negative KSLA (T− KSLA) cells. In the presence of stem cell factor, interleukin-3, and erythropoietin, 80% of T+ KSLA cells formed colonies in vitro, compared with 40% of T− KSLA cells. Long-term multilineage repopulating cells were detected in T+ KSLA cells, but not in T− KSLA cells. An in vivo limiting dilution analysis revealed that at least 1 of 8 T+ KSLA cells were such repopulating cells. The successful secondary transplantation initiated with a limited number of T+ KSLA cells suggests that these cells have self-renewal potential. In addition, engraftment of T+ KSLA cells in conditioned newborn mice indicates that these HSCs can be adapted equally by the adult and newborn hematopoietic environments. The data suggest that T+ KSLA cells represent HSCs in the murine fetal liver.


Blood ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 112 (11) ◽  
pp. 612-612 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui Yu ◽  
Hongmei Shen ◽  
Feng Xu ◽  
Xiaoxia Hu ◽  
Yanxin Li ◽  
...  

Abstract Radiation injury remains a significant health problem. New medical intervention to prevent or manage radiation damage is highly dependent on a deeper understanding of how radiation-induced cell death is accomplished in the irradiated tissue cells such as stem and progenitor cells. To date, relatively specific or untainted molecular mediators in apoptosis of tissue stem and progenitor cells upon radiation injury have not been clearly defined. The p53 pathway is known as a major molecular mechanism for cell apoptosis, upon the exposure of lethal radiation. Targeting p53 confers a radioprotective effect, but may increase tumorigenesis due to impaired cell cycle arrest for DNA repair. In our current study, we have examined the specific role of PUMA (p53 up-regulated mediator of apoptosis) in the radiosensitivity of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs). By quantitative RT PCR, we found that the level of PUMA mRNA was relatively low in the most primitive long-term repopulating hematopoietic stem cells (LT-HSC, isolated based on the immnunophenotype “CD34−LKS”) as compared to other hematopoietic cell populations from mice, but it was significantly elevated in response to γ-irradiation. In the mice lacking PUMA, while neither HSC number nor HSC function was altered under homeostatic conditions, the PUMA−/− HSCs appeared to be resistant to radiation damage in vivo as retrospectively quantified in a competitive HSC transplant model. Our further direct measurement with a single cell culture system for HSC growth in vitro, demonstrated that PUMA, but not p21 (the chief mediator of p53 in cell cycle arrest), is primarily responsible for the radiosensitivity of HSC in the p53 pathway (200 LT-HSCs analyzed for each cell type). Together, these data provide definitive evidence for PUMA as an essential mediator in radiation-induced apoptosis of tissue stem cells. We finally focused on the beneficial effects of targeting PUMA in HSCs and HPCs on the animal survival upon the exposure of lethal irradiation. Strikingly, the wild-type mice reconstituted with PUMA−/− hematopoietic cells exhibited a significant survival advantage after two rounds of 9-Gy γ-irradiation (18 Gy in total) as compared to the mice reconstituted with PUMA+/+ hematopoietic cells (95 % vs. 0 % survival in 20 days, n=21/each group; 50% vs. 0 % survival in 180 days, n=20 or 11/each group, respectively) as shown in the figure below. Moreover, unlike the p53−/− mice, those PUMA−/− reconstituted mice did not have an increased incidence of hematopoietic malignancies (n=20) within 180 days. Therefore, our current study establishes PUMA as an attractive molecular target for the development of therapeutic agents for the prevention and treatment of radiation injury.


Blood ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 112 (11) ◽  
pp. 727-727 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takafumi Yokota ◽  
Kenji Oritani ◽  
Stefan Butz ◽  
Koichi Kokame ◽  
Paul W Kincade ◽  
...  

Abstract Hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) are an important cell type with the capacity for self-renewal as well as differentiation into multi-lineage blood cells, maintaining the immune system throughout life. Many studies have attempted to identify unique markers associated with these extremely rare cells. In bone marrow of adult mice, the Lin-c-kitHi Sca1+ CD34−/Lo Thy1.1Lo subset is known to include HSC with long-term repopulating capacity. However, several of these parameters differ between strains of mice, change dramatically during developmental age and/or are expressed on many non-HSC during inflammation. Efficient HSC-based therapies and the emerging field of regenerative medicine will benefit from learning more about what defines stem cells. We previously determined that the most primitive cells with lymphopoietic potential first develop in the paraaortic splanchnopleura/aorta-gonad-mesonephros (AGM) region of embryos using Rag1/GFP knock-in mice. We also reported that Rag1/GFP-c-kitHi Sca1+ cells derived from E14.5 fetal liver (FL) reconstituted lympho-hematopoiesis in lethally irradiated adults, while Rag1/GFPLo c-kitHi Sca1+ cells transiently contributed to T and B lymphopoiesis. To extend those findings, microarray analyses were conducted to search for genes that characterize the initial transition of fetal HSC to primitive lymphopoietic cells. The comparisons involved mRNA from Rag1Lo ckitHi Sca1+, early lymphoid progenitors (ELP) and the HSC-enriched Rag1-ckitHi Sca1+ fraction isolated from E14.5 FL. While genes potentially related to early lymphopoiesis were discovered, our screen also identified genes whose expression seemed to correlate with HSC. Among those, endothelial cell-selective adhesion molecule (ESAM) attracted attention because of its conspicuous expression in the HSC fraction and sharp down-regulation on differentiation to ELP. ESAM was originally identified as an endothelial cell-specific protein, but expression on megakaryocytes and platelets was also reported (J. Biol. Chem., 2001, 2002). Flow cytometry analyses with anti-ESAM antibodies showed that the HSC-enriched Rag1-c-kitHi Sca1+ fraction could be subdivided into two on the basis of ESAM levels. The subpopulation with the high density of ESAM was enriched for c-kitHi Sca1Hi cells, while ones with negative or low levels of ESAM were found in the c-kitHi Sca1Lo subset. Among endothelial-related antigens on HSC, CD34 and CD31/PECAM1 were uniformly present on Rag1-c-kitHi Sca1+ cells in E14.5 FL and neither resolved into ESAMHi and ESAM−/Lo fractions. Expression profiles of Endoglin and Tie2 partially correlate with ESAM. The primitive ESAMHi fraction uniformly expressed high levels of Endoglin and Tie2, but many of the more differentiated ESAM−/Lo cells still retained the two markers. ESAM expression correlated well with HSC activity. Cells in the ESAMHi Rag1-ckitHi Sca1+ fraction formed more and larger colonies than those in the ESAM-/Lo Rag1-ckitHi Sca1+ fraction. Particularly, most CFU-Mix, primitive progenitors with both myeloid and erythroid potential, were found in the ESAMHi fraction. In limiting dilution stromal cell co-cultures, we found that 1 in 2.1 ESAMHi Rag1-ckitHi Sca1+ cells and 1 in 3.5 ESAM−/Lo Rag1-ckitHi Sca1+ cells gave rise to blood cells. However, while only 1 in 125 ESAM−/Lo Rag1-ckitHi Sca1+ cells were lymphopoietic under these conditions, 1 in 8 ESAMHi Rag1-ckitHi Sca1+ cells produced CD19+ B lineage cells. In long-term reconstituting assays, ESAMHi Rag1-ckitHi Sca1+ cells contributed highly to the multi-lineage recovery of lympho-hematopoiesis in recipients, but no chimerism was detected in mice transplanted with ESAM−/Lo Rag1-ckitHi Sca1+ cells. These results suggested that HSC in E14.5 FL are exclusively present in the ESAMHi fraction. Tie2+ c-kit+ lympho-hematopoietic cells of E10.5 AGM also expressed high levels of ESAM. Furthermore, ESAM expression in adult bone marrow was detected on primitive progenitors and cells in the side population within the Lin-ckitHi Sca1+ fraction. Interestingly, the expression was up-regulated in aged mice. Based on these observations, we conclude that ESAM marks HSC throughout life in mice. We also observed that many of human cord blood CD34+ CD38− cells express ESAM, suggesting potential application for the purification of human HSC.


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