scholarly journals The Elusive Endometrial Epithelial Stem/Progenitor Cells

Author(s):  
Fiona L. Cousins ◽  
Ronald Pandoy ◽  
Shiying Jin ◽  
Caroline E. Gargett

The human endometrium undergoes approximately 450 cycles of proliferation, differentiation, shedding and regeneration over a woman’s reproductive lifetime. The regenerative capacity of the endometrium is attributed to stem/progenitor cells residing in the basalis layer of the tissue. Mesenchymal stem cells have been extensively studied in the endometrium, whereas endometrial epithelial stem/progenitor cells have remained more elusive. This review details the discovery of human and mouse endometrial epithelial stem/progenitor cells. It highlights recent significant developments identifying putative markers of these epithelial stem/progenitor cells that reveal their in vivo identity, location in both human and mouse endometrium, raising common but also different viewpoints. The review also outlines the techniques used to identify epithelial stem/progenitor cells, specifically in vitro functional assays and in vivo lineage tracing. We will also discuss their known interactions and hierarchy and known roles in endometrial dynamics across the menstrual or estrous cycle including re-epithelialization at menses and regeneration of the tissue during the proliferative phase. We also detail their potential role in endometrial proliferative disorders such as endometriosis.

Blood ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 117 (18) ◽  
pp. 4773-4777 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hal E. Broxmeyer ◽  
Man-Ryul Lee ◽  
Giao Hangoc ◽  
Scott Cooper ◽  
Nutan Prasain ◽  
...  

Abstract Cryopreservation of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs) is crucial for cord blood (CB) banking and transplantation. We evaluated recovery of functional HPC cryopreserved as mononuclear or unseparated cells for up to 23.5 years compared with prefreeze values of the same CB units. Highly efficient recovery (80%-100%) was apparent for granulocyte-macrophage and multipotential hematopoietic progenitors, although some collections had reproducible low recovery. Proliferative potential, response to multiple cytokines, and replating of HPC colonies was extensive. CD34+ cells isolated from CB cryopreserved for up to 21 years had long-term (≥ 6 month) engrafting capability in primary and secondary immunodeficient mice reflecting recovery of long-term repopulating, self-renewing HSCs. We recovered functionally responsive CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes, generated induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells with differentiation representing all 3 germ cell lineages in vitro and in vivo, and detected high proliferative endothelial colony forming cells, results of relevance to CB biology and banking.


Leukemia ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Madeline Niederkorn ◽  
Chiharu Ishikawa ◽  
Kathleen M. Hueneman ◽  
James Bartram ◽  
Emily Stepanchick ◽  
...  

AbstractUbiquitin-specific peptidase 15 (USP15) is a deubiquitinating enzyme implicated in critical cellular and oncogenic processes. We report that USP15 mRNA and protein are overexpressed in human acute myeloid leukemia (AML) as compared to normal hematopoietic progenitor cells. This high expression of USP15 in AML correlates with KEAP1 protein and suppression of NRF2. Knockdown or deletion of USP15 in human and mouse AML models significantly impairs leukemic progenitor function and viability and de-represses an antioxidant response through the KEAP1-NRF2 axis. Inhibition of USP15 and subsequent activation of NRF2 leads to redox perturbations in AML cells, coincident with impaired leukemic cell function. In contrast, USP15 is dispensable for human and mouse normal hematopoietic cells in vitro and in vivo. A preclinical small-molecule inhibitor of USP15 induced the KEAP1-NRF2 axis and impaired AML cell function, suggesting that targeting USP15 catalytic function can suppress AML. Based on these findings, we report that USP15 drives AML cell function, in part, by suppressing a critical oxidative stress sensor mechanism and permitting an aberrant redox state. Furthermore, we postulate that inhibition of USP15 activity with small molecule inhibitors will selectively impair leukemic progenitor cells by re-engaging homeostatic redox responses while sparing normal hematopoiesis.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (17) ◽  
pp. 4083
Author(s):  
Xing Yu Li ◽  
Shang Ying Wu ◽  
Po Sing Leung

Pancreatic progenitor cells (PPCs) are the primary source for all pancreatic cells, including beta-cells, and thus the proliferation and differentiation of PPCs into islet-like cell clusters (ICCs) opens an avenue to providing transplantable islets for diabetic patients. Meanwhile, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) can enhance the development and function of different cell types of interest, but their role on PPCs remains unknown. We aimed to explore the mechanism-of-action whereby MSCs induce the in vitro and in vivo PPC/ICC development by means of our established co-culture system of human PPCs with human fetal bone marrow-derived MSCs. We examined the effect of MSC-conditioned medium on PPC proliferation and survival. Meanwhile, we studied the effect of MSC co-culture enhanced PPC/ICC function in vitro and in vivo co-/transplantation. Furthermore, we identified IGF1 as a critical factor responsible for the MSC effects on PPC differentiation and proliferation via IGF1-PI3K/Akt and IGF1-MEK/ERK1/2, respectively. In conclusion, our data indicate that MSCs stimulated the differentiation and proliferation of human PPCs via IGF1 signaling, and more importantly, promoted the in vivo engraftment function of ICCs. Taken together, our protocol may provide a mechanism-driven basis for the proliferation and differentiation of PPCs into clinically transplantable islets.


Blood ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 104 (11) ◽  
pp. 3171-3171
Author(s):  
Yue Si ◽  
Cordula Leurs ◽  
Edward Srour ◽  
Samantha Ciccone ◽  
Helmut Hanenberg ◽  
...  

Abstract Fanconi anemia (FA) is a complex autosomal recessive genetic disorder characterized within the hematological system by progressive bone marrow aplasia, a high propensity to develop acute myeloid leukemia, and hypersensitivity to alkylating agents including mitomycin c. The identification of individual FA genes raises the potential of using gene transfer technology to express/introduce the functional cDNA in/into deficient autologous stem cells. We have previously shown that in the absence of genetic correction with a retroviral mediated Fancc transgene, ex vivo culture of Fancc−/− stem/progenitor cells (HSPC) predisposes uncorrected Fancc−/− HSPC cells to clonal hematopoiesis (Haneline, Blood 2003). Therefore we examined the potential of a helper-free human foamy virus (HFV) derived construct that encodes both the human FANCC and EGFP transgenes to transduce murine Fancc−/− HSC in the absence of prestimulation. In initial experiments, we determined that 40–80% of progenitors were transduced following a single overnight HFV infection using a 20:1 moiety of infection. Subsequent studies demonstrated that HFV efficiently transduced primitive hematopoietic progenitors in G0 and G1 phases of the cell cycle as evidenced both by using multicolor fluorescence activated cell sorting and subsequent culture of sorted cell populations in high proliferating potential (HPP-CFC) and low proliferating potential colony forming assays. Aliquots of HFV transduced cells that were transduced with the construct encoding both Fancc and EGFP, or the reporter transgene only were transplanted into irradiated recipient mice. Four months following transplantation, bone marrow cells were isolated from the reconstituted recipients and clonogenic assays were established in a range of mitomycin c (MMC) concentrations. In these experiments, the MMC hypersensitivity of Fancc−/− progenitors was corrected to wild-type levels. To assess quantitatively the potential of HFV expressed FANCC to correct stem cell repopulating ability, we next utilized the competitive repopulating assay. In two replicate experiments, we determined that the repopulating activity of HFV-transduced Fancc−/− stem cells was comparable to wildtype controls six months following transplantation in primary and secondary recipients. Collectively, these data provide in vivo evidence that the HFV vector is an efficient vehicle for introducing a functional hFANCC transgene into quiescent Fancc−/− HSC in the absence of prestimulation and for complementing the cellular FA defect in vitro and in vivo.


Blood ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 106 (11) ◽  
pp. 1395-1395
Author(s):  
Morayma Reyes ◽  
Jeffrey S. Chamberlain

Abstract Multipotent Adult Progenitor Cells (MAPC) are bone marrow derived stem cells that can be extensively expanded in vitro and can differentiate in vivo and in vitro into cells of all three germinal layers: ectoderm, mesoderm, endoderm. The origin of MAPC within bone marrow (BM) is unknown. MAPC are believed to be derived from the BM stroma compartment as they are isolated within the adherent cell component. Numerous studies of bone marrow chimeras in human and mouse point to a host origin of bone marrow stromal cells, including mesenchymal stem cells. We report here that following syngeneic bone marrow transplants into lethally irradiated C57Bl/6 mice, MAPC are of donor origin. When MAPC were isolated from BM chimeras (n=12, 4–12 weeks post-syngeneic BM transplant from a transgenic mouse ubiquitously expressing GFP), a mixture of large and small GFP-positive and GFP-negative cells were seen early in culture. While the large cells stained positive for stroma cell markers (smooth muscle actin), mesenchymal stem cell makers (CD73, CD105, CD44) or macrophages (CD45, CD14), the small cells were negative for all these markers and after 30 cell doublings, these cells displayed the classical phenotype of MAPC (CD45−,CD105−, CD44−, CD73−, FLK-1+(vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2, VEGFR2), Sca-1+,CD13+). In a second experiment, BM obtained one month post BM transplant (n=3) was harvested and mononuclear cells were sorted as GFP-positive and GFP-negative cells and were cultured in MAPC expansion medium. MAPC grew from the GFP-positive fraction. These GFP positive cells displayed the typical MAPC-like immunophenotypes, displayed a normal diploid karyotype and were expanded for more than 50 cell doublings and differentiated into endothelial cells, hepatocytes and neurons. To rule out the possibility that MAPC are the product of cell fusion between a host and a donor cell either in vivo or in our in vitro culture conditions, we performed sex mismatched transplants of female GFP donor BM cells into a male host. BM from 5 chimeras were harvested 4 weeks after transplant and MAPC cultures were established. MAPC colonies were then sorted as GFP-positive and GFP- negative and analyzed for the presence of Y-chromosome by FISH analysis. As expected all GFP-negative (host cells) contained the Y-chromosome whereas all GFP-positive cells (donor cells) were negative for the Y-chromosome by FISH. This proves that MAPC are not derived from an in vitro or in vivo fusion event. In a third study, BM mononuclear cells from mice that had been previously BM-transplanted with syngeneic GFP-positive donors (n=3) were transplanted into a second set of syngeneic recipients (n=9). Two months after the second transplant, BM was harvested and mononuclear cells were cultured in MAPC medium. The secondary recipients also contained GFP-positive MAPC. This is the first demonstration that BM transplantation leads to the transfer of cells that upon isolation in vitro generate MAPCs and, whatever the identity of this cell may be, is eliminated by irradiation. We believe this is an important observation as MAPC hold great clinical potential for stem cell and/or gene therapy and, thus, BM transplant may serve as a way to deliver and reconstitute the MAPC population. In addition, this study provides insight into the nature of MAPC. The capacity to be transplantable within unfractionated BM transplant renders a functional and physiological distinction between MAPC and BM stromal cells. This study validates the use of unfractionated BM transplants to study the nature and possible in vivo role of MAPC in the BM.


Blood ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 122 (21) ◽  
pp. 2476-2476
Author(s):  
Kasia Mierzejewska ◽  
Ewa Suszynska ◽  
Sylwia Borkowska ◽  
Malwina Suszynska ◽  
Maja Maj ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs) are exposed in vivo to several growth factors, cytokines, chemokines, and bioactive lipids in bone marrow (BM) in addition to various sex hormones circulating in peripheral blood (PB). It is known that androgen hormones (e.g., danazol) is employed in the clinic to treat aplastic anemia patients. However, the exact mechanism of action of sex hormones secreted by the pituitary gland or gonads is not well understood. Therefore, we performed a complex series of experiments to address the influence of pregnant mare serum gonadotropin (PMSG), luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), androgen (danazol) and prolactin (PRL) on murine hematopoiesis. In particular, from a mechanistic view we were interested in whether this effect depends on stimulation of BM-residing stem cells or is mediated through the BM microenvironment. Materials and Methods To address this issue, normal 2-month-old C57Bl6 mice were exposed or not to daily injections of PMSG (10 IU/mice/10 days), LH (5 IU/mice/10 days), FSH (5 IU/mice/10 days), danazol (4 mg/kg/10 days) and PRL (1 mg/day/5days). Subsequently, we evaluated changes in the BM number of Sca-1+Lin–CD45– that are precursors of long term repopulating hematopoietic stem cells (LT-HSCs) (Leukemia 2011;25:1278–1285) and bone forming mesenchymal stem cells (Stem Cell & Dev. 2013;22:622-30) and Sca-1+Lin–CD45+ hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPC) cells by FACS, the number of clonogenic progenitors from all hematopoietic lineages, and changes in peripheral blood (PB) counts. In some of the experiments, mice were exposed to bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) to evaluate whether sex hormones affect stem cell cycling. By employing RT-PCR, we also evaluated the expression of cell-surface and intracellular receptors for hormones in purified populations of murine BM stem cells. In parallel, we studied whether stimulation by sex hormones activates major signaling pathways (MAPKp42/44 and AKT) in HSPCs and evaluated the effect of sex hormones on the clonogenic potential of murine CFU-Mix, BFU-E, CFU-GM, and CFU-Meg in vitro. We also sublethally irradiated mice and studied whether administration of sex hormones accelerates recovery of peripheral blood parameters. Finally, we determined the influence of sex hormones on the motility of stem cells in direct chemotaxis assays as well as in direct in vivo stem cell mobilization studies. Results We found that 10-day administration of each of the sex hormones evaluated in this study directly stimulated expansion of HSPCs in BM, as measured by an increase in the number of these cells in BM (∼2–3x), and enhanced BrdU incorporation (the percentage of quiescent BrdU+Sca-1+Lin–CD45– cells increased from ∼2% to ∼15–35% and the percentage of BrdU+Sca-1+Lin–CD45+ cells increased from 24% to 43–58%, Figure 1). These increases paralleled an increase in the number of clonogenic progenitors in BM (∼2–3x). We also observed that murine Sca-1+Lin–CD45– and Sca-1+Lin–CD45+ cells express sex hormone receptors and respond by phosphorylation of MAPKp42/44 and AKT in response to exposure to PSMG, LH, FSH, danazol and PRL. We also observed that administration of sex hormones accelerated the recovery of PB cell counts in sublethally irradiated mice and slightly mobilized HSPCs into PB. Finally, in direct in vitro clonogenic experiments on purified murine SKL cells, we observed a stimulatory effect of sex hormones on clonogenic potential in the order: CFU-Mix > BFU-E > CFU-Meg > CFU-GM. Conclusions Our data indicate for the first time that not only danazol but also several pituitary-secreted sex hormones directly stimulate the expansion of stem cells in BM. This effect seems to be direct, as precursors of LT-HSCs and HSPCs express all the receptors for these hormones and respond to stimulation by phosphorylation of intracellular pathways involved in cell proliferation. These hormones also directly stimulated in vitro proliferation of purified HSPCs. In conclusion, our studies support the possibility that not only danazol but also several other upstream pituitary sex hormones could be employed to treat aplastic disorders and irradiation syndromes. Further dose- and time-optimizing mouse studies and studies with human cells are in progress in our laboratories. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alyssa J. Miller ◽  
David R. Hill ◽  
Melinda S. Nagy ◽  
Yoshiro Aoki ◽  
Briana R. Dye ◽  
...  

Blood ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 134 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 4882-4882
Author(s):  
Alison Domingues ◽  
Kamila Bujko ◽  
Magdalena Kucia ◽  
Janina Ratajczak ◽  
Mariusz Z Ratajczak

Background . There is an ongoing search for multipotent stem cells from umbilical cord blood (UCB) with trans-germ layer differentiation potential that can be employed in repairing damaged organs and also expanded into transplantable hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs). The existence of such cells in postnatal life could also revive the concept of hemangioblasts or hemangioblast-like cells in adult hematopoietic organs. Our group was the first to isolate a population of small CD34+CD133+lin-CD45- early-development stem cells from human hematopoietic tissues, including UCB. Based on the validated expression of early-development markers, these cells were named "very small embryonic-like stem cells" (VSELs, Circulation Res 2019; 124:208-210). Currently, more than 25 independent groups worldwide who have carefully followed the multicolor-staining cell-sorting strategy described by us (Current Protocols in Cytometry 2010, 9.29.1-9.29.15) have successfully isolated these cells and demonstrated their in vivo contribution to all three germ layer lineages. Thus, VSELs could be very useful in regenerative medicine in the field of angiogenesis, and UCB is an attractive source, with easy accessibility and tolerance to allogenic grafts. However, the low number of these cells in UCB and their quiescence are limiting factors. Therefore, in vitro differentiation of VSELs into endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) would allow improvement in the ability to expand endothelial cells and could represent a clinically relevant alternative to embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) for cell therapy without ethical problems and undesirable side effects. Hypothesis. We hypothesized that UCB-purified, very small, early-developmentCD34+lin-CD45-stem cells can be ex vivo expanded into functional EPCs. Materials and Methods. VSELs highly purified by FACS were expanded into EPCs in pro-angiogenic medium supplemented with mesodermic differentiation factors and then endothelial differentiation factors in the presence of nicotinamide and UM171. In parallel, we expanded EPCs from MNCs isolated from the same UCB units by employing a classical protocol (Methods in Enzymology 2008, 445:303-29). The EPC nature of the expanded VSEL-derived cells was confirmed by the expression of typical EPC markers as well as by in vitro angiogenic assays. Results. Our differentiation cocktail allowed us to differentiate and expand VSELs into EPCs. In our expansion medium (Figure 1), the very small, round VSELs smaller than 6 mm in diameter proliferated and differentaited over time into larger and extended cells with a cobblestone morphology similar to the EPC control cells, and we confirmed their endothelial characteristics by cytometry analysis. Like EPCs, VSEL-derived EPCs were positive for CD31, CD144, KDR, and CD105 and negative for mesenchymal surface markers, such as CD90. They also performed similarly to EPCs in classical vasculogenic tests, including adhesion, proliferation, migration, and tubulogenesis assays. Conclusions. This work shows, for the first time, efficient VSEL differentiation into functional endothelial cells with vasculogenic properties without the help of co-culture over feeder-layers or viral vectors in medium supplemented with nicotinamide and UM171. These findings allow us to propose these cells as an interesting cell therapy product. These results also reopen the question of the existence of hemangioblast-like cells in postnatal tissues. We are currently testing these cells in vivo in model of hind limb ischemia. Figure 1 Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 45-45
Author(s):  
Meghan McGee-Lawrence

Abstract Circulating osteogenic precursor (COP) cells constitute a recently discovered population of circulating progenitor cells with the capacity to form not only bone but other mesenchymal tissues. A small but growing body of literature explores these cells, but with a great deal of disagreement and contradiction within it, mainly whether these cells are from mesenchymal or hematopoietic origin. This session will discuss the origins and biological characterization of these cells, including the identification strategies used to isolate these cells from the peripheral blood. It also examines the available knowledge on the in vitro and in vivo behaviour of these cells in plastic adherence, differentiation capacity, proliferation, and cellular homing. We will also review the profound and exciting implications for future use of COP cells in clinical practice, particularly in comparison with other types of stem cells.


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