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Germline transcription has been described for both immunoglobulin and T-cell receptor ( TCR) genes, raising questions of their functional significance during haematopoiesis. Previously, an immature murine T-cell line was shown to bind antibody to TCR-Vβ8.2 in absence of anti-Cβ antibody binding, and an equivalent cell subset was also identified in the mesenteric lymph node. Here, we investigate whether germline transcription and cell surface Vβ8.2 expression could therefore represent a potential marker of T-cell progenitors. Cells with the TCR phenotype of Vβ8.2+Cβ− are found in several lymphoid sites, and among the lineage-negative (Lin−) fraction of hematopoietic progenitors in bone marrow ( BM). Cell surface marker analysis of these cells identified subsets reflecting common lymphoid progenitors, common myeloid progenitors and multipotential progenitors. To assess whether the Lin−Vβ8.2+Cβ− BM subset contains hematopoietic progenitors, cells were sorted and adoptively transferred into sub-lethally irradiated recipients. No T-cell or myeloid progeny were detected following introduction of cells via the intrathymic or intravenous routes. However, B-cell development was detected in spleen. This pattern of restricted in vivo reconstitution disputes Lin−Vβ8.2+Cβ− BM cells as committed T-cell progenitors, but raises the possibility of progenitors with potential for B-cell development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background We previously identified by flow cytometry a Lineage-CD44+ (Lin-CD44+) subpopulation of cells with cancer stem cell properties in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). We now correlate clinical and histologic factors with Lin-CD44+ cell frequency. Methods The study included 31 patients with HNSCC, of whom 87% had stage IV disease. The frequency of Lin-CD44+ cells and the success of xenografting patient tumors in mice were correlated with clinical and pathologic data. Results The mean frequency of Lin-CD44+ cells was 25% (0.4%-81%). It was 36% in patients who had recurrence versus 15% for those without recurrence ( p = .04). Successful xenograft implantation occurred in 53%. Seventy-five percent of patients with successful xenografts had recurrence versus 21% of patients with unsuccessful xenografts ( p = .003). Conclusions Successful xenograft implantation and a high frequency of Lin-CD44+ cells correlate with known poor prognostic factors such as advanced T classification and recurrence. These findings may support the stem cell concept in HNSCC. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck, 2012 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the ability of MnCl2 as a cellular MRI contrast agent to determine the in vitro viability of human embryonic stem cells (hESC) and human bone marrow stromal cells (hBMSC). Basic MRI parameters including T1 and T2 values of MnCl2-labeled hESC and hBMSC were measured and viability signal of manganese (Mn2+)-labeled cells was validated. Furthermore, the biological activity of Ca2+-channels was modulated utilizing both Ca2+-channel agonist and antagonist to evaluate concomitant signal changes. Metabolic effects of MnCl2-labeling were also assessed using assays for cell viability, proliferation, and apoptosis. Finally, in vivo Mn2+-guided MRI of the transplanted hESC was successfully achieved and validated by bioluminescence imaging. Magn Reson Med, 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cells of the vertebrate immune system are continuously regenerated by division of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) into differentiated effector cells. Classically, HSCs were thought to reside primarily in the bone marrow niche where they produced mature progeny that migrated from the marrow to repopulate the peripheral immune system. However, emerging evidence has established that hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) are themselves mobile and able to repopulate ectopic niches and contribute more directly to inflammatory responses in the periphery. How the HSPCs remain immune to destruction in a toxic inflammatory milieu is unknown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MRI is emerging as a diagnostic modality to track iron-oxide-labeled stem cells. This study investigates whether an off-resonance (OR) pulse sequence designed to generate positive contrast at 1.5T can assess the location, quantity, and viability of delivered stem cells in vivo. Using mouse embryonic stem cell transfected with luciferase reporter gene ( luc-mESC), multimodality validation of OR signal was conducted to determine whether engraftment parameters of superparamagnetic iron-oxide labeled luc-mESC (SPIO- luc-mESC) could be determined after cell transplantation into the mouse hindlimb. A significant increase in signal- and contrast-to-noise of the SPIO- luc-mESC was achieved with the OR technique when compared to a gradient recalled echo (GRE) sequence. A significant correlation between the quantity of SPIO- luc-mESC and OR signal was observed immediately after transplantation (R2 = 0.74, P < 0.05). The assessment of transplanted cell viability by bioluminescence imaging (BLI) showed a significant increase of luciferase activities by day 16, while the MRI signal showed no difference. No significant correlation between BLI and MRI signals of cell viability was observed. In conclusion, using an OR sequence the precise localization and quantitation of SPIO-labeled stem cells in both space and time were possible. However, the OR sequence did not allow evaluation of cell viability. Magn Reson Med 60:1269-1275, 2008. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been proposed that cumulative somatic mutations contribute to the aging process by disrupting the transcriptional networks that regulate cell structure and function. Experimental support for this model emerged from a recent study of cardiomyocytes that showed a dramatic increase in the transcriptional heterogeneity of these long-lived postmitotic cells with age. To determine if regulatory instability is a hallmark of aging in renewing tissues, we evaluated gene expression noise in four hematopoietic cell types: stem cells, granulocytes, naïve B cells and naïve T cells. We used flow cytometry to purify phenotypically equivalent cells from young and old mice, and applied multiplexed quantitative reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction to measure the copy number of six different mRNA transcripts in 324 individual cells. There was a trend toward higher transcript levels in cells isolated from old animals, but no significant increase in transcriptional heterogeneity with age was found in the surveyed populations. Flow cytometric analysis of membrane protein expression also indicated that cell-to-cell variability was unaffected by age. We conclude that large-scale regulatory destabilization is not a universal concomitant of aging, and may be of significance as an aging mechanism primarily in nonrenewing tissues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Embryogenesis and asexual reproduction are commonly considered to be coordinated developmental processes, which depend on accurate progression through a defined sequence of developmental stages. Here we report a peculiar developmental scenario in a simple chordate, Botryllus schlosseri, wherein a normal colony of individuals (zooids and buds) is regenerated from the vasculature (vascular budding) through a sequence of morphologically abnormal developmental stages. Vascular budding was induced by surgically removing buds and zooids from B. schlosseri colonies, leaving only the vasculature and the tunic that connects them. In vivo imaging and histological sections showed that the timing and morphology of developing structures during vascular budding deviated significantly from other asexual reproduction modes (the regular asexual reproduction mode in this organism and vascular budding in other botryllid species). Subsequent asexual reproduction cycles exhibited gradual regaining of normal developmental patterns, eventually leading to regeneration of a normal colony. The conversion into a normal body form suggests the activation of an alternative pathway of asexual reproduction, which involves gradual regaining of normal positional information. It presents a powerful model for studying the specification of the same body plan by different developmental programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For me the search for hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) actually started with the discovery by Till, McCulloch, and colleagues (1-3) that bone marrow contained single cells that could give rise to myeloerythoid colonies in the spleen, and sometimes these colonies contained cells that made more spleen colonies as well as radioprotected and reconstituted lethally irradiated mice (3). But in retrospect, it should have started with the remarkable observation of Ray Owen in 1945 that bovine fraternal twins sharing a single placenta and blood circulation retained production of blood cells genetically defined to be from both throughout their life (4). It could be argued that this was the experiment that began both modern experimental hematology as well as modern cellular immunology. The Till, McCulloch, Wu, Becker, and Simonovitch experiments were elegant demonstrations that single-genetically marked cells existed (random DNA breaks and translocations induced by sublethal irradiation of the donor bone marrow) that could both self-renew and differentiate (2,5). But these experiments did not put the pure cells in the hands of scientists, and so most of their functions for the next 35 years were implied rather than directly analyzed. Just as genetics if the complement to biochemistry (when one considers genes and gene products), cell marking is the complement to cell purification in the fields of developmental and cellular biology. The first attempts at such cellular purification came from the 'school' of Till & McCulloch (6,7), and independently the school of Van Bekkum in the Netherlands (8). Not what was lacking in those experiments and at that time were both a comprehensive approach that would take into account the clonal activity of stem cells in both self-renewal and differentiation to all blood cell outcomes, and the tools with which one could separate what turned out to be an extremely rare... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The antigen specificity of a rat monoclonal antibody TER-119 was investigated. In adult mice, TER-119 reacted with mature erythrocytes, 20–25% of bone marrow cells and 2–3% of spleen cells but not with thymocytes nor lymph node cells. In fetal haematopoietic tissues, 30–40% of d 10 yolk sac cells, 80–90% of d 14 fetal liver cells and 40–50% of newborn liver cells were reactive with TER-119. TER-119+ cells in adult bone marrow expressed significant levels of CD45 but not myeloid (Mac-1, Gr-1) or B-cell (B220) markers. Morphological examination and haematopoietic colony-forming assays for isolated TER-119+ cells revealed that TER-119 reacts with erythroid cells at differentiation stages from early proerythroblast to mature erythrocyte, but not with cells showing typical erythroid blast-forming unit (BFU-E) and erythroid colony-forming unit (CFU-E) activities. Erythroleukaemia cell lines do not express the TER-119 antigen even after stimulation with dimethylsulphoxide. TER-119 immunoprecipitated protein bands with molecular masses of 110 kDa, 60 kDa, 52 kDa and 32 kDa from erythrocyte membrane, whereas only a 52-kDa band was detected by TER-119 in Western blot analysis. Further molecular and cellular analyses indicated that the TER-119 antigen is a molecule associated with cell-surface glycophorin A but not with glycophorin A itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The MHC molecules have been historically perceived as transplantation antigens, though it is now recognized that their primary, if not sole, role is in eliminating parasites and in surveillance and clearance of aberrant self. Indeed, pregnancy in mammals would represent the closest to a natural transplantation process that occurs in vertebrates. However, among the immediate ancestors to the vertebrates, natural intraspecific allorecognition processes are common. Among members of the colonial tunicate Botryllus schlosseri, two individuals that share a single allele of the highly polymorphic fusibility/histocompatibility (Fu/HC) locus are able to fuse with one another. Could this Fu/HC related to the MHC such that the MHC really did have its origins as a transplantation antigen? Presently we review the genetics and biology of natural transplantation processes in colonial tunicates, comparing it with allorecognition as mediated through the vertebrate T-cell receptor, killer cell inhibitory receptor/Ly49, and MHC. Experimental approaches to determining if the molecules regulating allorecognition in tunicates have any ancestral relationship to the vertebrate MHC are discussed, as is a genomic approach to isolating novel mediators of allorecognition. We also explore the biological basis for allorecognition in colonial tunicates and recent work that highlights the costs of not maintaining a system for allorecognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: All lymphocytes are derived from hematopoietic stem cells (HSC). The interleukin-7 receptor (IL-7R) transduces non-redundant signals for both T and B-cell development from HSC. The upregulation of the IL-7R occurs at the state of the clonogenic common lymphoid progenitor, a recently identified population that can give rise to all lymphoid lineages (T.B and natural killer cells) at a single cell level. The IL-7R plays a critical role in the rearrangement of immunoglobulin heavy chain genes required for B-cell development. IL-7E expression is critically regulated in developing thymocytes; thymocytes that fail the positive selection process down-regulate the IL-7R, but those undergoing positive selection upregulate or maintain IL-7R expression. Recent data indicate that IL-7 signaling enhances the survival of developing thymocytes and mature T cells, presumably by its upregulating Bcl-23. Detailed analysis of the signaling cascades activated by the IL-7R may help to reveal the differential roles of IL-7 signaling in T and B-cell development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]