scholarly journals Impaired bone marrow B-cell development in mice with a bronchiolitis obliterans model of cGVHD

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (18) ◽  
pp. 2307-2319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oleg V. Kolupaev ◽  
Trisha A. Dant ◽  
Hemamalini Bommiasamy ◽  
Danny W. Bruce ◽  
Kenneth A. Fowler ◽  
...  

Abstract Chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD) causes significant morbidity and mortality in patients after allogeneic bone marrow (BM) or stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT). Recent work has indicated that both T and B lymphocytes play an important role in the pathophysiology of cGVHD. Previously, our group showed a critical role for the germinal center response in the function of B cells using a bronchiolitis obliterans (BO) model of cGVHD. Here, we demonstrated for the first time that cGVHD is associated with severe defects in the generation of BM B lymphoid and uncommitted common lymphoid progenitor cells. We found an increase in the number of donor CD4+ T cells in the BM of mice with cGVHD that was negatively correlated with B-cell development and the frequency of osteoblasts and Prrx-1–expressing perivascular stromal cells, which are present in the B-cell niche. Use of anti-DR3 monoclonal antibodies to enhance the number of donor regulatory T cells (Tregs) in the donor T-cell inoculum ameliorated the pathology associated with BO in this model. This correlated with an increased number of endosteal osteoblastic cells and significantly improved the generation of B-cell precursors in the BM after allo-SCT. Our work indicates that donor Tregs play a critical role in preserving the generation of B-cell precursors in the BM after allo-SCT. Approaches to enhance the number and/or function of donor Tregs that do not enhance conventional T-cell activity may be important to decrease the incidence and severity of cGVHD in part through normal B-cell lymphopoiesis.

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Bassani ◽  
Claudio Tripodo ◽  
Paola Portararo ◽  
Alessandro Gulino ◽  
Laura Botti ◽  
...  

BackgroundWithin the bone marrow (BM), mature T cells are maintained under homeostatic conditions to facilitate proper hematopoietic development. This homeostasis depends upon a peculiar elevated frequency of regulatory T cells (Tregs) and immune regulatory activities from BM-mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs). In response to BM transplantation (BMT), the conditioning regimen exposes the BM to a dramatic induction of inflammatory cytokines and causes an unbalanced T-effector (Teff) and Treg ratio. This imbalance negatively impacts hematopoiesis, particularly in regard to B-cell lymphopoiesis that requires an intact cross-talk between BM-MSCs and Tregs. The mechanisms underlying the ability of BM-MSCs to restore Treg homeostasis and proper B-cell development are currently unknown.MethodsWe studied the role of host radio-resistant cell-derived CD40 in restoring Teff/Treg homeostasis and proper B-cell development in a murine model of BMT. We characterized the host cellular source of CD40 and performed radiation chimera analyses by transplanting WT or Cd40-KO with WT BM in the presence of T-reg and co-infusing WT or - Cd40-KO BM-MSCs. Residual host and donor T cell expansion and activation (cytokine production) and also the expression of Treg fitness markers and conversion to Th17 were analyzed. The presence of Cd40+ BM-MSCs was analyzed in a human setting in correlation with the frequency of B-cell precursors in patients who underwent HSCT and variably developed acute graft-versus-host (aGVDH) disease.ResultsCD40 expression is nearly undetectable in the BM, yet a Cd40-KO recipient of WT donor chimera exhibited impaired B-cell lymphopoiesis and Treg development. Lethal irradiation promotes CD40 and OX40L expression in radio-resistant BM-MSCs through the induction of pro-inflammatory cytokines. OX40L favors Teff expansion and activation at the expense of Tregs; however, the expression of CD40 dampens OX40L expression and restores Treg homeostasis, thus facilitating proper B-cell development. Indeed, in contrast to dendritic cells in secondary lymphoid organs that require CD40 triggers to express OX40L, BM-MSCs require CD40 to inhibit OX40L expression.ConclusionsCD40+ BM-MSCs are immune regulatory elements within BM. Loss of CD40 results in uncontrolled T cell activation due to a reduced number of Tregs, and B-cell development is consequently impaired. GVHD provides an example of how a loss of CD40+ BM-MSCs and a reduction in B-cell precursors may occur in a human setting.


Blood ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 126 (23) ◽  
pp. 1883-1883
Author(s):  
Oleg Kolupaev ◽  
Michelle West ◽  
Bruce R. Blazar ◽  
Stephen Tilley ◽  
James Coghill ◽  
...  

Abstract Background. Chronic-graft-versus-host disease (cGvHD) continues to be a major complication following allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Despite significant progress, mechanisms underlying development of the pathology are yet to be fully understood. Recent studies utilizing mouse models and patient samples have demonstrated a critical role for B cells in GvHD pathogenesis. Bone marrow (BM)-derived B cells can produce auto-reactive antibodies causing tissue fibrosis and multiorgan cGvHD. Impaired B cell homeostasis in the periphery, activation due to abnormally high levels of B cell-activating factor (BAFF), increased survival of auto-reactive B cells and aberrant BCR signaling are shown to be important for disease progression in cGvHD patients. Murine models also highlighted the critical role of germinal center reactions, particularly interactions between T follicular helper (Tfh) cells and B cells for generation of auto-antibodies which are responsible for triggering immune responses and cell-mediated toxicity. A growing body of evidence has emerged highlighting the fact that BM itself is a target organ during acute GvHD (aGvHD) with recent work suggesting a role for donor CD4+ T cells in BM specific aGvHD. Our group has shown that patients with higher numbers of BM B cell precursors were less likely to develop cGvHD after allogeneic HSCT (Fedoriw et al., 2012). These observations indicate clinical relevance of impaired BM B lymphopoiesis for cGvHD development. Methods. In order to investigate the effect of cGvHD on BM B cell development, we used the well-characterized major mismatch B6 into B10.BR model of systemic cGvHD. Recipient mice were treated with cyclophosphamide on day -3 and -2, irradiated with 700 cGy on day -1, and injected with 107 T cell depleted (TCD) BM with or without total splenic T cells (0.5-1x105). Mice were monitored for 30 days, and BM and spleen was harvested and analyzed using flow cytometry. Results. Consistent with patient data, we observed a decrease in the frequency and number of donor-derived uncommitted common lymphoid progenitors (CLP) and B cell progenitors in the BM+ allogeneic T cells group (CLP: 0.17±0.03% vs. 0.06±0.01%, p <0.01; pro B: 2.2 ± 0.5% vs. 0.7 ± 0.3%, p<0.05; pre B: 15.3±1.8% vs. 6.3±2.4%, p<0.05; immature B cells: 5.7±0.7% vs. 2.1±0.7%, p<0.01) (Fig.1). As previously reported for this model, we also found a decrease in the frequency of follicular (FO) B cells (Flynn et al., 2014). We hypothesized that during cGvHD the B cell progenitor BM niche is affected by donor CD4+ T cells leading to impaired B lymphopoiesis. Bone marrow from BM+T cell animals had a significantly higher frequency of CD4+ cells compared to the control group (0.45±0.06% vs. 0.2±0.02%). Depletion of CD4+ T cells using anti-CD4 antibody during the first two weeks after transplant improved pathology scores and prevented weight loss in BM+T cells mice. We also observedpartial recovery of B cell progenitors and Lin-CD45-CD31-CD51+ osteoblasts (OB) in animals treated with anti-CD4 antibodies (pre B 3.5±1.1% vs. 20.4±4.5%, p<0.05; immature B: 1.9±0.9% vs. 3.5±0.3%; OB: 0.8±0.1% vs.1.2±0.2%). A recent study showed that activation and proliferation of conventional T cells in aGvHD model can be prevented by in vivo expansion of regulatory T cells (Tregs) using αDR3 antibody (4C12). We adopted this approach to determine whether Tregs can suppress the cytotoxic effect of donor CD4+ T cells in BM in cGvHD model. Animals that received T cells from 4C12-treated donors had an increase in survival and lower cGvHD pathology scores. These mice also had higher frequency of pro B, pre B, and immature B cells compared to the mice infused with T cells from isotype-treated donors. Conclusions. These studies demonstrate that BM development of B lymphocytes is impaired in a mouse model of systemic cGvHD. Our data suggests that donor-derived CD4+ T cells are involved in the destruction of hematopoietic niches in BM, particularly OB, which support B lymphopoiesis. Moreover, depletion of CD4+ T cells and infusion with in vivo expanded Tregs reduced the severity of cGvHD. Thus, Treg therapy in patients with cGvHD may be important for BM B cell development, and improvement of clinical outcomes. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


Blood ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 108 (10) ◽  
pp. 3611-3619 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong Xu ◽  
Paula M. Chilton ◽  
Michael K. Tanner ◽  
Yiming Huang ◽  
Carrie L. Schanie ◽  
...  

Abstract We evaluated the relative contribution of the humoral and cellular arms of the immune response to bone marrow cells transplanted into sensitized recipients. We report here for the first time that humoral immunity contributes predominantly to allosensitization. Although the major role for nonmyeloablative conditioning is to control alloreactive host T cells in nonsensitized recipients, strikingly, none of the strategies directed primarily at T-cell alloreactivity enhanced engraftment in sensitized mice. In evaluating the mechanism behind this barrier, we found that humoral immunity plays a critical role in the rejection of allogeneic marrow in sensitized recipients. Adoptive transfer of as little as 25 μL serum from sensitized mice abrogated engraftment in secondary naive recipients. With the use of μMT mice as recipients, we found that T-cell-mediated immunity plays a secondary but still significant role in allorejection. Targeting of T cells in sensitized B-cell-deficient μMT mice enhanced alloengraftment. Moreover, both T- and B-cell tolerance were achieved in sensitized recipients when allochimerism was established, as evidenced by the acceptance of second donor skin grafts and loss of circulating donor-specific Abs. These findings have important implications for the management of sensitized transplant recipients and for xenotransplantation in which B-cell reactivity is a predominant barrier.


Blood ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 107 (6) ◽  
pp. 2453-2460 ◽  
Author(s):  
Önder Alpdogan ◽  
Vanessa M. Hubbard ◽  
Odette M. Smith ◽  
Neel Patel ◽  
Sydney Lu ◽  
...  

AbstractKeratinocyte growth factor (KGF) is a member of the fibroblast growth factor family that mediates epithelial cell proliferation and differentiation in a variety of tissues, including the thymus. We studied the role of KGF in T-cell development with KGF-/- mice and demonstrated that thymic cellularity and the distribution of thymocyte subsets among KGF-/-, wildtype (WT), and KGF+/- mice were similar. However, KGF-/- mice are more vulnerable to sublethal irradiation (450 cGy), and a significant decrease was found in thymic cellularity after irradiation. Defective thymopoiesis and peripheral T-cell reconstitution were found in KGF-/- recipients of syngeneic or allogeneic bone marrow transplant, but using KGF-/- mice as a donor did not affect T-cell development after transplantation. Despite causing an early developmental block in the thymus, administration of KGF to young and old mice enhanced thymopoiesis. Exogenous KGF also accelerated thymic recovery after irradiation, cyclophosphamide, and dexamethasone treatment. Finally, we found that administering KGF before bone marrow transplantation (BMT) resulted in enhanced thymopoiesis and peripheral T-cell numbers in middle-aged recipients of an allogeneic BM transplant. We conclude that KGF plays a critical role in postnatal thymic regeneration and may be useful in treating immune deficiency conditions. (Blood. 2006;107:2453-2460)


Blood ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 106 (11) ◽  
pp. 3318-3318
Author(s):  
Nahed El Kassar ◽  
Baishakhi Choudhury ◽  
Francis Flomerfelt ◽  
Philip J. Lucas ◽  
Veena Kapoor ◽  
...  

Abstract IL-7 is a non-redundant cytokine in T cell development. We studied the role of IL-7 in early T-cell development using a model of transgenic (Tg) mice with the murine IL-7 gene under control of the lck proximal promoter. At high IL-7 over-expression (x39 fold increase at day 1 in total thymic tissue), we observed a disruption of TCRαβ development along with increased B cell development in the thymus (7- to 13-fold increase) (El Kassar, Blood, 2004). In order to further explore abnormal T and B cell thymic development in these mice, we first confirmed that they both arise in parallel and were non-cell autonomous, by in vivo injection of neutralizing anti-IL-7 MAb and mixed bone marrow chimera experiments. Using a six color flow cytometry analysis, we found a dramatic decrease of the early thymocyte progenitors (ETPs, lin−CD44+CD25−c-kithiIL-7R−/lo) in the adult Tg mice (x4.7 fold decrease). Lin−CD44+CD25−c-kit+ thymocytes were sorted and cultured on OP9 and OP9 delta-like1 (OP9-DL1) stromal cells (kindly provided by Pr Zuniga Pflucker). At day 14, we observed an important decrease of T cell development (54% vs. 1% of DP cells) and an increase of NK cells (x5 fold increase) in the Tg-derived DN1 cell culture. DN2 (Lin−CD44+CD25−c-kit+) Tg thymocytes showed the same, but less dramatic abnormalities. While DN1 progenitors developed effectively into B220+CD19+ cells on OP9 stromal cells, no B cell development was observed on OP-DL stromal cells from DN1-Tg derived progenitors or by addition of increasingly high doses of IL-7 (x10, x40, x160) to normal B6-derived DN1 progenitors. Instead, a block of T-cell development was observed with increased IL-7. We hypothesized a down regulation of Notch signaling by IL-7 over-expression and analyzed by FACS Notch expression in the DN thymocytes. By staining the intra-cellular part of Notch cleaved after Notch 1/Notch ligand activation, Tg-derived DN2 cells showed decreased Notch signaling. More importantly, HES expression was decreased in the DN2, DN3 and DN4 fractions by semi-quantitative PCR. Sorted Pro/Pre B cells from Tg thymi showed TCR Dβ1-Jβ1 rearrangement indicating their T specific origin, in opposition to Pro/Pre B cells sorted from the bone marrow of the same mice. We suggest that more than one immature progenitor seeds the thymus from the bone marrow. While ETPs had T and NK proliferative capacity, another thymic progenitor with B potential may be responsible for thymic B cell development in normal and IL-7 Tg mice. Finally, IL-7 over-expression may induce a decreased Notch signaling in thymic progenitors, inducing a switch of T vs. B lineage development.


Blood ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 126 (23) ◽  
pp. 4279-4279
Author(s):  
Kate A Markey ◽  
Rachel D Kuns ◽  
Renee J Robb ◽  
Motoko Koyama ◽  
Kate Helen Gartlan ◽  
...  

Abstract Allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) remains the therapy of choice for many haematological malignancies, but despite the curative benefit of the immunological graft-versus-leukemia (GVL) effect, relapse remains a key cause of death. We have investigated the role of recipient dendritic cells (DC) in antigen presentation to donor CD8 cytotoxic T cells (CTL) in a model of BMT where GVHD and GVL are directed to multiple minor histocompatibility antigens (mHA) and survival reflects GVL activity. C3H.Sw bone marrow and purified CD8 T cell grafts were transplanted with B6-derived MLL-AF9 induced primary acute myeloid leukemia (AML) into lethally irradiated B6.CD11c.DOG recipients (diphtheria toxin receptor (DTR), ovalbumin and GFP expression driven off the CD11c promoter) such that recipient DC can be deleted by DT administration. Surprisingly, depletion of recipient DC resulted in improved leukemic control (median survival 43 vs 31 days, P <0.001). The use of IRF8-/- BMT recipients (in which the CD8+ DC subset is absent) confirmed that recipient CD8+ DC were critical for regulating these GVL effects (median survival 43 vs 34 days, P = 0.0005). Conversely, when recipient CD8+ DC were expanded in a B6 to B6D2F1 model with bcr-abl/Nup98-HoxA9 induced primary AML, by using Flt3-L treatment for 10 days prior to BMT, GVL effects were completely eliminated, rendering relapse rate equivalent to that seen in the recipients of T cell depleted (TCD) grafts (median survival 11 days in BM+T and TCD groups where recipients were pre-treated with Flt3-L, vs. >45 days in the saline treated BM+T group). The use of B6.CD11c-Rac1 transgenic BMT recipients (who cannot process and present exogenously acquired antigen) confirmed that this effect was the result of endogenous alloantigen presentation by recipient DC and independent of cross-presentation.Using the same depletion strategies in an antigen-specific model (with donor OT-I T cells and B6.CD11c.DOG x DBA/2 F1 recipients) we confirmed that recipient DC invoked effector donor CTL activation, differentiation (CD25+ CD69+ CD62L-) and subsequent apoptosis (as measured by Annexin V; 52.4% vs. 23.9% in DC replete vs. depleted recipients, P = 0.01). There was a consequent profound contraction of the donor CTL compartment by day 10 in DC replete recipients. This contraction of the CTL compartment was associated with reduced expression of the cytolytic molecule granzyme B (MFI 1922 vs 1097, P = 0.02). Antigen presentation has a critical role in the initiation of donor T cell alloreactivity and GVL after BMT. Here we demonstrate that endogenous alloantigen presentation by recipient CD8+ DC to donor T cells leads to activation induced death of donor CTL early after BMT, which in turn facilitates leukemic relapse. This concept has critical implications for the design of therapies that target DC in the peri-transplant period and confirms that recipient DC regulate GVL effects. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


Blood ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 118 (2) ◽  
pp. 309-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuella L. Gomes Ochtrop ◽  
Sigune Goldacker ◽  
Annette M. May ◽  
Marta Rizzi ◽  
Ruth Draeger ◽  
...  

Abstract In common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) defects in early stages of B-cell development, bone marrow (BM) plasma cells and T lymphocytes have not been studied systematically. Here we report the first morphologic and flow cytometric study of B- and T-cell populations in CVID BM biopsies and aspirates. Whereas the hematopoietic compartment showed no major lineage abnormalities, analysis of the lymphoid compartment exhibited major pathologic alterations. In 94% of the patients, BM plasma cells were either absent or significantly reduced and correlated with serum immunoglobulin G levels. Biopsies from CVID patients had significantly more diffuse and nodular CD3+ T lymphocyte infiltrates than biopsies from controls. These infiltrates correlated with autoimmune cytopenia but not with other clinical symptoms or with disease duration and peripheral B-cell counts. Nodular T-cell infiltrates correlated significantly with circulating CD4+CD45R0+ memory T cells, elevated soluble IL2-receptor and neopterin serum levels indicating an activated T-cell compartment in most patients. Nine of 25 patients had a partial block in B-cell development at the pre-B-I to pre-B-II stage. Because the developmental block correlates with lower transitional and mature B-cell counts in the periphery, we propose that these patients might form a new subgroup of CVID patients.


Blood ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 95 (7) ◽  
pp. 2312-2320 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pilar Lauzurica ◽  
David Sancho ◽  
Miguel Torres ◽  
Beatriz Albella ◽  
Mónica Marazuela ◽  
...  

Abstract AIM/CD69 is the earliest leukocyte activation antigen and is expressed mainly by activated T, B, and natural killer (NK) cells. It is also constitutively expressed by platelets, by bone marrow myeloid precursors, and by small subsets of resident lymphocytes in the secondary lymphoid tissues. The engagement of CD69 by specific antibodies induces intracellular signals, including Ca++ flux, cytokine synthesis, and cell proliferation. To investigate the physiological relevance of CD69, we generated mice deficient in CD69 (CD69-/-) by gene targeting in embryonic stem cells. CD69 (-/-) mice showed largely normal hematopoietic cell development and normal T-cell subpopulations in thymus and periphery. Furthermore, studies of negative- and positive-thymocyte selection using a T-cell receptor transgenic model demonstrated that these processes were not altered in CD69 (-/-) mice. In addition, natural killer and cytotoxic T lymphocyte cells from CD69-deficient mice displayed cytotoxic activity similar to that of wild-type mice. Interestingly, B-cell development was affected in the absence of CD69. The B220hiIgMneg bone marrow pre-B cell compartment was augmented in CD69 (-/-) mice. In addition, the absence of CD69 led to a slight increase in immunoglobulin (Ig) G2a and IgM responses to immunization with T-dependent and T-independent antigens. Nevertheless, CD69-deficient lymphocytes had a normal proliferative response to different T-cell and B-cell stimuli. Together, these observations indicate that CD69 plays a role in B-cell development and suggest that the putative stimulatory activity of this molecule on bone marrow-derived cells may be replaced in vivo by other signal transducing receptors.


Blood ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 106 (11) ◽  
pp. 124-124
Author(s):  
Ivan Maillard ◽  
Laleh Talebian ◽  
Zhe Li ◽  
Yalin Guo ◽  
Daisuke Sugiyama ◽  
...  

Abstract The family of core binding factors includes the DNA-binding subunits Runx1-3 and the common non-DNA binding partner CBFβ. Runx1 and CBFβ are essential for the emergence of hematopoietic stem cells during fetal development, but not for stem cell maintenance during later ontogeny. Runx1 is also required for megakaryocyte differentiation, B cell development, and for the DN2 to DN3 transition in thymocyte development. Runx2/CBFβ are critical for normal osteogenesis, and Runx3 for CD4 silencing in CD8+ T cells, but their contribution to other steps of hematopoietic development is unknown. To examine the collective role of core binding factors in hematopoiesis, we generated a hypomorphic Cbfb allele (Cbfbrss). CBFβ protein levels were reduced by approximately 2–3 fold in fetuses homozygous for the Cbfbrss allele (Cbfbrss/rss), and 3–4 fold in fetuses carrying one hypomorphic and one knockout allele (Cbfbrss/−). Cbfbrss/rss and Cbfbrss/− fetuses had normal erythroid and B cell development, and relatively mild abnormalities in megakaryocyte and granulocyte differentiation. In contrast, T cell development was very sensitive to an incremental reduction of CBFβ levels: mature thymocytes were decreased in Cbfbrss/rss fetuses, and virtually absent in Cbfbrss/−fetuses. We next assessed the development of Cbfbrss/rss and Cbfbrss/− fetal liver progenitors after transplantation to irradiated adult recipients, in competition with wild-type (wt) bone marrow cells. Wt, Cbfbrss/rss and Cbfbrss/− fetal progenitors replenished the erythroid, myeloid and B cell compartments equally well. The overall development of Cbfbrss/rss T cells was preserved, although CD4 expression was derepressed in double negative thymocytes. In Cbfbrss/− chimeras, mature thymocytes were entirely derived from competitor cells. Furthermore, the developmental block in Cbfbrss/− progenitors was present at the earliest stages of T cell development within the DN1 (ETP) and DN2 subsets. Our data define a critical CBFβ threshold for normal T cell development, and they situate an essential role of core binding factors during the earliest stages of T cell development. In addition, early thymopoiesis appeared more severely affected by reduced CBFβ dosage than by the lack of Runx1 (Ichikawa et al., Nat Med 2004; Growney et al., Blood 2005), suggesting that Runx2/3 may contribute to core binding factor activity in the T cell lineage.


Blood ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 112 (11) ◽  
pp. 75-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sung-UK Lee ◽  
Manami Maeda ◽  
Nagisa Sakurai ◽  
Julie Teruya-Feldstein ◽  
Freddy Radtke ◽  
...  

Abstract The proto-oncogene LRF, encoded by the Zbtb7a gene, is a transcriptional repressor that belongs to the POK (POZ/BTB and KrŸppel) protein family. Along with its oncogenic property, recent evidence has shown that POK proteins play distinct roles in hematopoiesis and immune system development. Conditional inactivation of the LRF gene in mouse hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) results in the development of CD4/8 double positive (DP) T cells in bone marrow (BM) at the expense of B cell development (Maeda et al. Science 2007). While LRF acts as a master regulator of B versus T lymphoid lineage fate decision by suppressing Notch-mediated signals, it is unclear as to which Notch genes LRF targets and whether LRF is required for the maintenance of HSCs per se. To address these questions, we analyzed HSC/progenitor population of conditional LRF knockout mice (LRFF/FMx1-Cre) as well as LRF/Notch1 double conditional knockout mice (LRFF/FNotch1F/FMx1-Cre). In the absence of Notch1, LRF deficient HSCs/lymphoid progenitors (LRFF/FNotch1F/FMx1-Cre) could successfully give rise to early B cells (Pro B, Pre B and immature B). There were no abnormal DP-T cells seen in the BM, suggesting that LRF primarily targets Notch1 at the HSC/progenitor stages to maintain normal lymphoid development. However the loss of the LRF gene did not rescue the phenotype of Notch1F/FMx1-Cre mice (Radtke et al. Immunity 1999). Immature B cell development in the thymus was still observed in LRFF/FNotch1F/FMx1-Cre mice, suggesting that LRF acts genetically upstream of Notch1 during the early lymphocyte development. Notably, LRFF/FNotch1F/FMx1-Cre mice still exhibit a block of terminal erythroid differentiation and macrocytic anemia as seen in LRFF/FMx1-Cre mice. Thus, LRF is required for erythropoiesis via Notch-independent mechanisms. To further identify distinct HSC/progenitor compartments, we performed multicolor-FACS analysis utilizing antibodies for SLAM family members (CD41, CD48 and CD150), c-Kit, Sca-1, Flt3, IL7R-α, Vcam-1 and lineage markers (Lin). Remarkably, no Flt3 positive HSC/progenitors were observed in LRFF/FMx1-Cre mice. While IL7R-α+ T cell precursors (IL7Rα+Lin-Sca1+c-Kit+Flt3-), which were previously reported as common lymphoid progenitors (Maeda et al. Science 2007), existed abundantly. Absolute numbers of the long-term HSCs (LT-HSCs), defined as CD150+CD48-Flt3-Vcam-1+IL7Rα-LSK (Lin-Sca1+c-Kit+), were significantly reduced in LRFF/FMx1-Cre mice one month after pIpC injection. At the same time, CD150+CD48high+Flt3-Vcam-1-IL7Rα-LSK cells, which are likely T-committed lymphoid precursors, are increased in LRFF/FMx1-Cre mice. To investigate the presence of a population of quiescent HSC/progenitors, we treated LRFF/FMx1-Cre mice with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), a S phase-specific cytotoxic chemotherapeutic agent, and examined recovery of HSCs in BM. LT-HSCs in LRFF/FMx1-Cre mice did not repopulate as many as their counterpart one month after 5-FU treatment. Our data indicates that LRF deficient HSCs are unable to maintain its quiescent status and are on the state of cell differentiation toward T cells due to the high Notch activity. In fact, loss of the Notch1 gene partially rescued reduced LT-HSCs numbers seen in LRFF/FMx1-Cre mice.


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