The ability to generate lung and airway epithelial cells from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) would have applications in regenerative medicine, modeling of lung disease, drug screening and ...studies of human lung development. We have established, based on developmental paradigms, a highly efficient method for directed differentiation of hPSCs into lung and airway epithelial cells. Long-term differentiation of hPSCs in vivo and in vitro yielded basal, goblet, Clara, ciliated, type I and type II alveolar epithelial cells. The type II alveolar epithelial cells were capable of surfactant protein-B uptake and stimulated surfactant release, providing evidence of specific function. Inhibiting or removing retinoic acid, Wnt and BMP-agonists to signaling pathways critical for early lung development in the mouse-recapitulated defects in corresponding genetic mouse knockouts. As this protocol generates most cell types of the respiratory system, it may be useful for deriving patient-specific therapeutic cells.
Hemogenic endothelial (HE) cells in the dorsal aorta undergo an endothelial-to-hematopoietic transition (EHT) to form multipotent progenitors, lympho-myeloid biased progenitors (LMPs), ...pre-hematopoietic stem cells (pre-HSCs) and adult-repopulating HSCs. These briefly accumulate in intra-arterial hematopoietic clusters (IAHCs) before being released into the circulation. It is generally assumed that the number of IAHC cells correlates with the number of HSCs. Here, we show that changes in the number of IAHC cells, LMPs and HSCs can be uncoupled. Mutations impairing MyD88-dependent toll-like receptor (TLR) signaling decreased the number of IAHC cells and LMPs, but increased the number of HSCs in the aorta-gonad-mesonephros region of mouse embryos. TLR4-deficient embryos generated normal numbers of HE cells, but IAHC cell proliferation decreased. Loss of MyD88-dependent TLR signaling in innate immune myeloid cells had no effect on IAHC cell numbers. Instead, TLR4 deletion in endothelial cells (ECs) recapitulated the phenotype observed with germline deletion, demonstrating that MyD88-dependent TLR signaling in ECs and/or in IAHCs regulates the numbers of LMPs and HSCs.
Background Cancer stem cells are presumed to have virtually unlimited proliferative and self-renewal abilities and to be highly resistant to chemotherapy, a feature that is associated with ...overexpression of ATP-binding cassette transporters. We investigated whether prolonged continuous selection of cells for drug resistance enriches cultures for cancer stem–like cells. Methods Cancer stem cells were defined as CD44+/CD24− cells that could self-renew (ie, generate cells with the tumorigenic CD44+/CD24− phenotype), differentiate, invade, and form tumors in vivo. We used doxorubicin-selected MCF-7/ADR cells, weakly tumorigenic parental MCF-7 cells, and MCF-7/MDR, an MCF-7 subline with forced expression of ABCB1 protein. Cells were examined for cell surface markers and side-population fractions by microarray and flow cytometry, with in vitro invasion assays, and for ability to form mammospheres. Xenograft tumors were generated in mice to examine tumorigenicity (n = 52). The mRNA expression of multidrug resistance genes was examined in putative cancer stem cells and pathway analysis of statistically significantly differentially expressed genes was performed. All statistical tests were two-sided. Results Pathway analysis showed that MCF-7/ADR cells express mRNAs from ABCB1 and other genes also found in breast cancer stem cells (eg, CD44, TGFB1, and SNAI1). MCF-7/ADR cells were highly invasive, formed mammospheres, and were tumorigenic in mice. In contrast to parental MCF-7 cells, more than 30% of MCF-7/ADR cells had a CD44+/CD24− phenotype, could self-renew, and differentiate (ie, produce CD44+/CD24− and CD44+/CD24+ cells) and overexpressed various multidrug resistance–linked genes (including ABCB1, CCNE1, and MMP9). MCF-7/ADR cells were statistically significantly more invasive in Matrigel than parental MCF-7 cells (MCF-7 cells = 0.82 cell per field and MCF-7/ADR = 7.51 cells per field, difference = 6.69 cells per field, 95% confidence interval = 4.82 to 8.55 cells per field, P < .001). No enrichment in the CD44+/CD24− or CD133+ population was detected in MCF-7/MDR. Conclusion The cell population with cancer stem cell characteristics increased after prolonged continuous selection for doxorubicin resistance.
Lung and airway epithelial cells generated in vitro from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) have applications in regenerative medicine, modeling of lung disease, drug screening and studies of human ...lung development. Here we describe a strategy for directed differentiation of hPSCs into developmental lung progenitors, and their subsequent differentiation into predominantly distal lung epithelial cells. The protocol entails four stages that recapitulate lung development, and it takes ∼50 d. First, definitive endoderm (DE) is induced in the presence of high concentrations of activin A. Subsequently, lung-biased anterior foregut endoderm (AFE) is specified by sequential inhibition of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP), transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) and Wnt signaling. AFE is then ventralized by applying Wnt, BMP, fibroblast growth factor (FGF) and retinoic acid (RA) signaling to obtain lung and airway progenitors. Finally, these are further differentiated into more mature epithelial cells types using Wnt, FGF, cAMP and glucocorticoid agonism. This protocol is conducted in defined conditions, it does not involve genetic manipulation of the cells and it results in cultures in which the majority of the cells express markers of various lung and airway epithelial cells, with a predominance of cells identifiable as functional type II alveolar epithelial cells.
Idiopathic multicentric Castleman disease (iMCD) is a rare and poorly-understood cytokine storm-driven inflammatory disorder. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a known disease driver in some patients, but ...anti-IL-6 therapy with siltuximab is not effective in all patients, and biomarkers indicating success at an early time point following treatment initiation are lacking. Here we show, by comparison of levels of 1,178 proteins in sera of healthy participants (N = 42), patients with iMCD (N = 88), and with related diseases (N = 60), a comprehensive landscape of candidate disease mediators and predictors of siltuximab response. C-X-C Motif Chemokine Ligand-13 (CXCL13) is identified and validated as the protein most prominently up-regulated in iMCD. Early and significant decrease in CXCL13 levels clearly distinguishes siltuximab responders from non-responders; a 17% reduction by day 8 following siltuximab therapy initiation is predictive of response at later time points. Our study thus suggests that CXCL13 is a predictive biomarker of response to siltuximab in iMCD.
Idiopathic multicentric Castleman disease (iMCD) is a rare haematological disorder characterized by generalized lymphadenopathy with atypical histopathological features and systemic inflammation ...caused by a cytokine storm involving interleukin-6 (IL-6). Three clinical subtypes are recognized: thrombocytopenia, anasarca, fever, renal dysfunction, organomegaly (iMCD-TAFRO); idiopathic plasmacytic lymphadenopathy (iMCD-IPL), involving thrombocytosis and hypergammaglobulinaemia; and iMCD-not otherwise specified (iMCD-NOS), which includes patients who do not meet criteria for the other subtypes. Disease pathogenesis is poorly understood, with potential involvement of infectious, clonal and/or autoimmune mechanisms. To better characterize iMCD clinicopathology and gain mechanistic insights into iMCD, we analysed complete blood counts, other clinical laboratory values and blood smear morphology among 63 iMCD patients grouped by clinical subtype. Patients with iMCD-TAFRO had large platelets, clinical severity associated with lower platelet counts and transfusion-resistant thrombocytopenia, similar to what is observed with immune-mediated destruction of platelets in immune thrombocytopenic purpura. Conversely, elevated platelet counts in iMCD-IPL were associated with elevated IL-6 and declined following anti-IL-6 therapy. Our data suggest that autoimmune mechanisms contribute to the thrombocytopenia in at least a portion of iMCD-TAFRO patients whereas IL-6 drives thrombocytosis in iMCD-IPL, and these mechanisms likely contribute to disease pathogenesis.
The developmental fate of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells is influenced by their physiological context. Although most hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells are found in the bone marrow of ...the adult, some are found in other tissues, including the spleen. The extent to which the fate of stem cells is determined by the tissue in which they reside is not clear. In this study, we identify a new progenitor population, which is enriched in the mouse spleen, defined by cKit
CD71
CD24
expression. This previously uncharacterized population generates exclusively myeloid lineage cells, including erythrocytes, platelets, monocytes, and neutrophils. These multipotent progenitors of the spleen (MPPS) develop from MPP2, a myeloid-biased subset of hematopoietic progenitors. We find that NR4A1, a transcription factor expressed by myeloid-biased long term-hematopoietic stem cells, guides the lineage specification of MPPS. In vitro, NR4A1 expression regulates the potential of MPPS to differentiate into erythroid cells. MPPS that express NR4A1 differentiate into a variety of myeloid lineages, whereas those that do not express NR4A1 primarily develop into erythroid cells. Similarly, in vivo, after adoptive transfer,
deficient MPPS contribute more to erythrocyte and platelet populations than do wild-type MPPS. Finally, unmanipulated
mice harbor significantly higher numbers of erythroid progenitors in the spleen compared with wild-type mice. Together, our data show that NR4A1 expression by MPPS limits erythropoiesis and megakaryopoeisis, permitting development to other myeloid lineages. This effect is specific to the spleen, revealing a unique molecular pathway that regulates myeloid bias in an extramedullary niche.
Haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), which sustain production of all blood cell lineages, rely on glycolysis for ATP production, yet little attention has been paid to the role of mitochondria. Here we ...show in mice that the short isoform of a critical regulator of HSCs, Prdm16 (refs 4, 5), induces mitofusin 2 (Mfn2), a protein involved in mitochondrial fusion and in tethering of mitochondria to the endoplasmic reticulum. Overexpression and deletion studies, including single-cell transplantation assays, revealed that Mfn2 is specifically required for the maintenance of HSCs with extensive lymphoid potential, but not, or less so, for the maintenance of myeloid-dominant HSCs. Mfn2 increased buffering of intracellular Ca(2+), an effect mediated through its endoplasmic reticulum-mitochondria tethering activity, thereby negatively regulating nuclear translocation and transcriptional activity of nuclear factor of activated T cells (Nfat). Nfat inhibition rescued the effects of Mfn2 deletion in HSCs, demonstrating that negative regulation of Nfat is the prime downstream mechanism of Mfn2 in the maintenance of HSCs with extensive lymphoid potential. Mitochondria therefore have an important role in HSCs. These findings provide a mechanism underlying clonal heterogeneity among HSCs and may lead to the design of approaches to bias HSC differentiation into desired lineages after transplantation.
Hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) in the bone marrow are derived from a small population of hemogenic endothelial (HE) cells located in the major arteries of the mammalian embryo. HE ...cells undergo an endothelial to hematopoietic cell transition, giving rise to HSPCs that accumulate in intra-arterial clusters (IAC) before colonizing the fetal liver. To examine the cell and molecular transitions between endothelial (E), HE, and IAC cells, and the heterogeneity of HSPCs within IACs, we profiled ∼40 000 cells from the caudal arteries (dorsal aorta, umbilical, vitelline) of 9.5 days post coitus (dpc) to 11.5 dpc mouse embryos by single-cell RNA sequencing and single-cell assay for transposase-accessible chromatin sequencing. We identified a continuous developmental trajectory from E to HE to IAC cells, with identifiable intermediate stages. The intermediate stage most proximal to HE, which we term pre-HE, is characterized by increased accessibility of chromatin enriched for SOX, FOX, GATA, and SMAD motifs. A developmental bottleneck separates pre-HE from HE, with RUNX1 dosage regulating the efficiency of the pre-HE to HE transition. A distal candidate Runx1 enhancer exhibits high chromatin accessibility specifically in pre-HE cells at the bottleneck, but loses accessibility thereafter. Distinct developmental trajectories within IAC cells result in 2 populations of CD45+ HSPCs; an initial wave of lymphomyeloid-biased progenitors, followed by precursors of hematopoietic stem cells (pre-HSCs). This multiomics single-cell atlas significantly expands our understanding of pre-HSC ontogeny.
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