Here we describe an optimized, highly reproducible protocol to isolate Mesodermal Progenitor Cells (MPCs) from human bone marrow (hBM). MPCs were characterized by flow cytometry and nestin expression. They showed the ability to give rise to exponentially growing MSC-like cell cultures while retaining their angiogenic potential.
In a research study aimed to isolate human bone marrow (hBM)-derived Mesenchymal Stromal Cells (MSCs) for clinical applications, we identified a novel cell population specifically selected for growth in human serum supplemented medium. These cells are characterized by morphological, phenotypic, and molecular features distinct from MSCs and we named them Mesodermal Progenitor Cells (MPCs). MPCs are round, with a thick highly refringent core region; they show strong, trypsin resistant adherence to plastic. Failure to expand MPCs directly revealed that they are slow in cycling. This is as also suggested by Ki-67 negativity. On the other hand, culturing MPCs in standard medium designed for MSC expansion, gave rise to a population of exponentially growing MSC-like cells. Besides showing mesenchymal differentiation capacity MPCs retained angiogenic potential, confirming their multiple lineage progenitor nature. Here we describe an optimized highly reproducible protocol to isolate and characterize hBM-MPCs by flow cytometry (CD73, CD90, CD31, and CD45), nestin expression, and F-actin organization. Protocols for mesengenic and angiogenic differentiation of MPCs are also provided. Here we also suggest a more appropriate nomenclature for these cells, which has been re-named as “Mesangiogenic Progenitor Cells”.
Mesenchymale stromacellen (MSC's) zijn van relevante klinische waarde voor de multi-lijn differentiatie vermogen en hun vermogen om hemopoiesis ondersteunen, groeifactoren / cytokinen uitscheiden en een rol spelen bij immuunregulatie 1. In de definitie van MSC-gebaseerde therapieën cel productie en toepassing zijn het voorwerp van uitgebreide klinische en pre-klinisch onderzoek 2 geweest, met bijzondere aandacht voor specifieke internationale regelgeving voor de veiligheid en de werkzaamheid van cellen gebaseerde geneesmiddelen (CBMP) behandelingen 3. Menselijke MSCs zijn uitvoerig gekweekt in media die supplementen en reagentia van dierlijke oorsprong, zoals foetaal runderserum (FBS) en runder trypsine. Daarom opzij met besmettelijke risico's celmanipulatie patiënten ook te prion blootstelling en immunologische risico's van eiwitten, peptiden of andere biomoleculen van dierlijke oorsprong die kunnen blijven bestaan na verzamelen van cellen en Transplantatie 4.
Om het probleem te omzeilen, gekweekt we humaan beenmerg (HBM) afgeleide MSC's in dier-vrij medium, ter vervanging van FBS met gepoolde humaan type AB serum (PhABS). Onder deze omstandigheden Daarnaast groeit MSCs identificeerden we een nieuwe celpopulatie. Deze cellen waren morfologisch en fenotypische verschillen van MSC's en toonde een opvallende genexpressieprofiel evenals kenmerkende teelt / hechting. Ze behield zowel mesengenic en angiogene potentieel en daarom werden genoemd mesodermale Progenitor Cells (MTR) 5. Vervolgens waren we in staat om selectieve en reproduceerbare kweekomstandigheden definiëren mediterrane partnerlanden bij hoge graad van zuiverheid 6 te genereren.
We verder onderzocht de morfologische en biologische eigenschappen van de mediterrane partnerlanden. De mediterrane partnerlanden toonde nestin-positief, langzaam in de wielersport te zijn, Ki-67-negatief, en met chromosomen gekenmerkt door lange telomeren 5. Zij spraken pluripotency-geassocieerde transcriptiefactoren Oct-4 en Nanog plaats van MSC meester toezichthouders Runx2 en SOX9 7. Fenotypisch, mediterrane partnerlanden uitgedrukt endoglin (CD105) op een lager niveau dan MSC's, terwijl ontbreekt mesenchymale markers CD73, CD90, CD166. MPL toonde ook een kenmerkend patroon van adhesiemoleculen gekenmerkt door consistente expressie van PECAM (CD31), integrines aL (CD 11), αM (CD11b), ax (CD 11 c) en integrine β2 (CD18) die specifiek ondersteunt de voetjes structuren 8 . In standaard MSC expansie media, MTR prompt gedifferentieerd in MSC's via een tussenstap met de activering van Wnt5 / Calmodulin cell signaling 9. Mediterrane partnerlanden ook behouden angiogene eigenschappen, zoals aangetoond door hun vermogen om te ontkiemen van sferoïden in muizen extracellulaire matrix (ECM) eiwitten 3D culturen. De angiogene potentiële werd snel verloren na MPC differentiatie langs de mesengenic lineage.
Hier presenteren we proprotocollen geoptimaliseerd om te isoleren en zeer gezuiverd mediterrane partnerlanden van HBM bloedmonsters te karakteriseren. Reproduceerbare protocollen voor MPC mesengenic en angiogene differentiatie beschreven.
In the last decades, MSCs have been extensively researched and pre-clinically evaluated for possible application in the treatment of various bone/articular, immunological, neurological, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal and hematological disorders14,15. The easy and inexpensive isolation of multipotent MSCs, from many different tissues, together with their lack of significant immunogenicity16, contribute to make these cells one of the most interesting cell population to be applied in cell based therapies. Nonetheless, the very low frequency in the tissue of origin represents a great limitation to the MSCs application in clinics, forcing the expansion of these cells, in vitro, before the infusion or transplantation.
Expanded MSC cultures have revealed high grades of heterogeneity and variability17-19 making it difficult to reach a consensus about MSC production and characterization protocols. Moreover, recent investigations suggested the presence of multiple in vivo MSC ancestors in a wide range of tissues, which contribute to culture heterogeneity10,20. In fact, it has been proposed that particular culture conditions possibly select or simply promote specific sub-populations of MSCs progenitors present, in various percentages, in “crude” and unprocessed samples like bone marrow (hBM-MNCs) or adipose tissues (stromal vascular fraction)2. Thus, the variability in MSC-initiating cell populations together with the great number of different enrichment/isolation and culture protocols applied, represent a great obstacle to the definition of feasible MSC-based therapies.
A crucial factor affecting heterogeneity of MSC cultures is serum supplementation21. In our hands replacement of FBS with PhABS in primary cultures from hBM-MNCs, combined with high density seeding on hydrophobic plastics, led to the isolation of a novel highly adherent cell population with distinct biological features named MPCs5,6. We observed that the addition of small percentages of PhABS to FBS primary cultures also allowed MPC isolation, suggesting the presence of MPC inducing agents in the human serum6. At the moment, the MPC isolation/characterization protocol is a unique method available to obtain almost pure MPCs. The protocol has been carefully adjusted and it is highly reproducible for quality screening of MPC preparations before further applications.
MPCs could be used as a source for MSC production, thus limiting the variability introduced by use of unfractionated starting material. The precise definition of the multiple steps characterizing MPC mesengenic differentiation reported9 would allow synchronized mesenchymal cell expansion. Nonetheless, this latest condition could be realized exclusively applying highly purified MPC population, as a consequence the characterization of the cell products obtained by the protocol described here, results of crucial importance. This isolating method has been reported allowing MPC recovery with purity generally around 95%. However, donor/patient variability together with the variability related to the different batches of human pooled serum applied, could lead to a significant percentage of MSC-like cells co-isolated together with MPCs, under selective conditions.
It is not clear if these “contaminating” MSC-like cells could arise from the other different in vivo progenitors described in bone marrow22 or from uncontrolled and spontaneous MPC differentiation. In any case, a consistent percentage of MSC-like cells in the MPC products nullify the possibility to applying these cells as homogeneous starting material for the MSC expansion. Thus, here it has been suggested a simple and inexpensive method, based on the MPC resistance to trypsin digestion, increasing the purity of the MPC products. Similar or even better results in purifying MPC cultures could be achieved by fluorescent or magnetic cell sorting performing CD73 and/or CD90 depletion, but significantly prolonging the process time and increasing the costs.
Moreover, MPCs showed expression of pluripotency-associated markers and Nestin, all rapidly lost during mesengenic differentiation7. Sprouting assay revealed MPC ability to invade murine ECM protein gel. Taken together these results indicate that MPCs have to be considered a more immature progenitor, retaining angiogenic potential. Nonetheless, the initial enthusiasm about mesodermal differentiation potential of MPCs is actually waning. In fact, after more than 7 years of studies on MPCs, mesengenic and angiogenic potential have been extensively described5-9, but differentiation toward any other cells of mesodermal origin is still lacking. Thus, here we propose a new, and more rigorous, definition of these cells as “Mesangiogenic Progenitor Cells”, maintaining the acronym MPCs.
We also believe that most controversies about MSC angiogenic potential could be related to the heterogeneous composition of expanded cultures consisting of sub-populations of MPCs and MSCs in variable percentages23.
Finally, MPCs could also play a crucial role for the implementation of CBMPs applicable for tissue reconstruction, as these cells could also support the neo-vascularization. In fact, future studies on regeneration should take in consideration that the newly formed tissue growth should be supported by concomitant neo-angiogenesis. The co-existence of mesengenic and angiogenic potential in MPCs could significantly improve the regeneration potential of new therapeutic approaches that involve these interesting cells.
The authors have nothing to disclose.
De auteurs willen vooral graag bedanken Dr. Paolo Parchi, afdeling Chirurgische, Medische en Moleculaire Pathologie en Critical Care Medicine, Universiteit van Pisa, voor het verstrekken van beenmerg samples en zijn expertise in de menselijke osteo-voorlopers
Matrigel Basement Membrane Matrix | BD Bioscience (San Jose, CA-USA) | 354230 | Murine ECM proteins Stock Concentration: 100% (9-12 mg/ml) Final Concentration: 100% |
Dulbecco's Phosphate-Buffered Saline (D-PBS) | Sigma (St. Louis, MO, USA) | D8537 | |
70 μm Filters | Miltenyi Biotec (BergischGladbach, Germany) | 130-095-823 | |
Ficoll-Paque PREMIUM | GE Healthcare (Uppsala, Sweden) | 17-5442-03 | medium for discontinuos density gradient centrifugation |
Pooled human AB type serum (PhABS) | LONZA (Walkersville MD-USA) | 14-490E | Final Concentration: 10% |
Glutamax-I | ThermoFisher (Waltham, MA USA) | 35050-038 | Stabilized L-Glutamine Stock Concentration: 100X Final Concentration: 2 mM |
Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) | Sigma (St. Louis, MO, USA) | A8412 | Stock Concentration: 7.5% Final Concentration: 0.5% |
Sodium Azide | Sigma (St. Louis, MO, USA) | S8032 | Final Concentration: 0.02% |
Penicillin/Streptomycin (Pen Strep) | Gibco (Grand Island, NY, USA) | 15070-063 | Antibiotics Stock Concentration: 5,000 UI/mL penicillin, 5,000 ug/mL Streptomycin Final Concentration: 50 UI/mL penicillin, 50 ug/mL Streptomycin |
T-75 culture flask for suspension cultures | Greiner Bio-one (Frickenhausen, Germany) | 658 190 | |
T-75 culture flask TC treated | Greiner Bio-one (Frickenhausen, Germany) | 658170 | |
TrypLE Select | ThermoFisher (Waltham, MA USA) | 12563-011 | Animal- free proteases detaching solution Stock Concentration: 1X Final Concentration: 1X |
Trypsin/EDTA | ThermoFisher (Waltham, MA USA) | 15400-054 | Phenol red free Stock Concentration: 0.5% Final Concentration: 0.25% |
anti-CD90 APC antibody (CD90) | MiltenyiBiotec (BergischGladbach, Germany) | 130-095-402 | Final Concentration: 1:40 |
anti-CD45 APC-Vio770 antibody (CD45) | MiltenyiBiotec (BergischGladbach, Germany) | 130-096-609 | Final Concentration: 1:40 |
anti-CD73 PE antibody (CD73) | MiltenyiBiotec (BergischGladbach, Germany) | 130-095-182 | Final Concentration: 1:40 |
anti-CD31 PE Vio-770 antibody (CD31) | MiltenyiBiotec (BergischGladbach, Germany) | 130-105-260 | Final Concentration: 1:40 |
Mouse IgG1 APC antibody | MiltenyiBiotec (BergischGladbach, Germany) | 130-098-846 | Final Concentration: 1:40 |
Mouse IgG2a APC Vio770 antibody | MiltenyiBiotec (BergischGladbach, Germany) | 130-096-637 | Final Concentration: 1:40 |
Mouse IgG1 PE antibody | MiltenyiBiotec (BergischGladbach, Germany) | 130-098-845 | Final Concentration: 1:40 |
Mouse IgG1 PE Vio-770 antibody | MiltenyiBiotec (BergischGladbach, Germany) | 130-098-563 | Final Concentration: 1:40 |
Low Glucose Dulbecco's Modified Eagle Medium (DMEM) | ThermoFisher (Waltham, MA USA) | 13-1331-82 | Phenol red-free minimal essential medium Stock Concentration: 1'000 mg/l glucose |
Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS) | ThermoFisher (Waltham, MA USA) | 10500 | Stock Concentration:0.2 mg/mL Final Concentration: 2 μg/mL |
Prolong Gold antifade reagent with 4’,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole | Invitrogen (Waltham, MA, USA) | P-36931 | Aqueous mounting medium + DAPI Final Concentration: 1X |
Paraformaldehyde | Sigma (St. Louis, MO, USA) | P6148 | Fixative Final Concentration: 4% |
LAB-TEK two-well chamber slides | Sigma (St. Louis, MO, USA) | C6682 | |
Anti-Nestin antibody [clone 10C2] | Abcam (Cambridge, UK) | ab2035 | Stock Concentration: 1 mg/ml Final Concentration: 7 μg/ml |
Alexa Fluor 555 Phalloidin | ThermoFisher (Waltham, MA USA) | A34055 | Stock Concentration: 200 UI/ml Final Concentration: 5 UI/ml |
Triton X-100 | Euroclone (Milan, Italy) | EMR237500 | Final Concentration: '0,05% |
MesenPRO RS Medium (MSC-RS medium) | ThermoFisher (Waltham, MA USA) | 12746-012 | |
Alexa Fluor 488 anti-mouse SFX kit | ThermoFisher (Waltham, MA USA) | A31619 | Goat anti-mouse secondary antibody + Signal enhancer Stock Concentration: 2 mg/ml Final Concentration: 2 μg/ml |
Pasteur Pipette | Kartell Labware (Noviglio (MI), ITALY ) | 329 | |
StemMACS AdipoDiff Media | MiltenyiBiotec (BergischGladbach, Germany) | 130-091-679 | |
StemMACS OsteoDiff Media | MiltenyiBiotec (BergischGladbach, Germany) | 130-091-678 | |
Osteoimage Bone mineralization Assay | LONZA (Walkersville MD-USA) | PA-1503 | Hydroxyapatite specific fluorescent staining solution |
50mL Polystyrene conical tube | Greiner bio-one (Kremsmünster Austria) |
227261 | |
Nile Red | ThermoFisher (Waltham, MA USA) | N1142 | Fluorescent staining solution for lipids Stock Concentration: 100 mM Final Concentration: 200 Nm |
Glycerin | Sigma (St. Louis, MO, USA) | G2289 | Final Concentration: '50% |
Polistirene Petri dishes | Sigma (St. Louis, MO, USA) | P5606 | |
24-well plates TC-treated | Greiner Bio-one GmbH (Frickenhausen, Germany) | 662160 | |
Endothelial Growth Medium, EGM-2 BulletKit (EGM-2) | LONZA (Walkersville MD-USA) | CC-3162 | VEGF-rich endothelial cell growth medium |
Leica Qwin Image Analisys Software | Leica (Wetzlar, Germany) | Image analysis software |