Pluripotent stem cells do not completely maintain normal human steady-state haemopoiesis

Since the classical work on the regulation of canine erythropoiesis by Alpen & Cranmore (1959), it has been generally accepted that recognizable bone-marrow cells are continuously replaced from sources of unrecognizable precursors. Although many features of pluripotent stem cells (PSC) and committed haemopoietic precursors have been determined, direct demonstration of a continuous influx, under normal steady-state conditions, from PSC into the recognizable bone-marrow cell compartments is still lacking. There is abundant evidence that PSC, in a number of species, including primates, resemble atypical or immature ('transitional') lymphocytes. By utilizing the technique of quantitative 14C-autoradiography, we have measured the activities of DNA and protein synthesis in individual bone-marrow cells of two healthy humans. A positive relationship was established between the protein synthesis rate and rate of movement through the cell cycle in all proliferative compartments. Lymphoid cells, considered to contain the fraction of PSC, were found in the lower range of this relationship. These low metabolic rates exclude fast growth as well as short cell-cycle times. In view of the low frequency of the potential PSC in the human bone marrow, amounting to less than 2%, these cells cannot be considered to represent a source continuously supplying the pool of rapidly proliferating, recognizable blast cells in the bone marrow under steady-state conditions. Some self-maintenance of a subcompartment within the pool of recognizable normal bone-marrow blast cells is therefore suggested.     

AN EARLY RESPONSE OF THE MORPHOLOGICALLY RECOGNIZABLE ERYTHROID PRECURSORS TO BLEEDING

⁵⁵Fe autoradiography of the peripheral red blood cells has been used to study the proliferation of the recognizable erythroid precursors in bled animals. The transit time of the recognizable erythroid precursors present in the bone marrow and labelled with ⁵⁵Fe 6 hr before bleeding, remains unchanged, but the number of red cells produced by these precursors is significantly greater than normal. It is deduced that the increased red cell production is brought about by an increase in the number of divisions that the cells undergo during maturation and that a shortening in the red cell cycle time is implied. The possibility that the transit time of the progeny of cells differentiating into pro-erythroblasts after bleeding may be shorter than the transit time of the precursors already differentiated before bleeding, is briefly discussed.     

Granulocytopoiesis in children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

Numbers, proliferative potential, and differentiative capacity of bone marrow granulocyte-macrophage precursor cells were studied in 130 children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), including 77 children in an acute phase of the disease and 53 in remission. Bone marrow samples from 65 children without haematopoietic abnormalities were used as controls. The numbers of clonogenic precursors were found to be below normal in all phases of ALL, particularly during the acute period when the bone marrow was heavily infiltrated with leukaemic cells. It is shown that the decreases in the numbers and proliferative potential of the precursor cells during the acute phases was associated with the effects of leukaemic blast cells, but that in remission the observed reduction in the precursor cell pool was due to the cytostatic effect of therapy. The differentiative capacity of clonogenic granulocyte and macrophage precursors was not altered in children with ALL.     

Bone marrow-thymus axis in senescence

This presentation offers a brief review of the bone marrow-thymus axis in senescence, a putative model for thymocyte differentiation, and recent results of our work on the status of pre-thymic stem cells in aged mice. The data presented here provide further evidence for a thymus endocrine influence on the bone marrow stem cells, specifically lymphocyte precursors. It has been postulated that the thymic hormones may act on lymphocyte precursors in the bone marrow and that the loss of thymic factors during senescence may be a contributing factor to the decreased cellular immune function. This study used Haar's in vitro model to investigate the bone marrow-thymus axis in aged mice. Erythroid-depleted bone-marrow cells from 3-month- and 24-month-old CBA (Thy 1.2) mice were placed in the upper half of a blind-well chamber with thymus supernatant in the lower half. Experimental cells were treated with thymus supernatant for 1 hr prior to migration. This study confirmed that pre-thymic stem cells in aged bone marrow are deficient in their ability to migrate to the thymus supernatant. It also revealed that treatment of the old bone marrow with thymus supernatant, made from neonatal thymus cultures, could dramatically improve the thymus migrating ability of the aged bone-marrow stem cells.     

Numbers and functions of transplantable primitive immunohematopoietic stem cells. Effects of age

This report introduces a new method in immunology, a use of the binomial formula with covariance to estimate numbers and proliferative patterns of the most primitive lymphoid precursors. We studied the primitive stem cells (PSC) from which most circulating lymphocytes and erythrocytes were descended during 300 to 400 days in recipients of genetically distinguishable marrow mixtures in competitive repopulation. Equivalent PSC concentrations (Eq. PSC Conc. or Conc.) were estimated, with the notion of common PSCs contributing equally in lymphoid and myeloid compartments. Similar estimation was done for common PSCs from which lymphocytes (and erythrocytes) drawn at successive sampling times about 100 days apart were descended. The percentages of lymphocyte and erythrocyte types, P1 and Pe, measured in each recipient were closely correlated, especially after 6 months and later. Close correlations were also found in cells sampled at successive one hundred day intervals, especially after the first. Apparently a few PSCs or their direct descendents produced most of the blood lymphocytes and E, and this production continued for many months. Concentrations of these PSCs (Equivalent PSC concentrations) were about one per 10(5) marrow cells from young donors. This is much lower than previous estimates, probably because our methods focus only on the most interesting precursors, those from which most of the circulating cells were descended. Equivalent PSC concentrations were about two-fold higher in old donors; old marrow produced correspondingly higher P1 and Pe values, but these declined with time. There were also small increases with time in the P1 and Pe values with young donors. To explain the temporal trends, we suggest that excess concentrations of precursors less primitive than PSC are present in old marrow, and their contribution to the differentiated cell population gradually declines. Possibly such precursors, as well as true PSC, proliferate in old donors to compensate for deficiencies that develop with age.     

AN ANALYSIS OF BONE MARROW ERYTHROPOIESIS IN THE MOUSE

Following the model of the erythropoietic system developed in the rat by Tarbutt and Blackett, the authors have carried out a kinetic analysis of bone marrow erythropoiesis in the mouse.
Using ⁵⁹Fe labelling techniques the size of the recognizable precursor cells and of the functional cell compartments have been estimated, while the flow-rate from the unrecognized precursor cells to the recognizable cells and from the latter compartment to the circulating erythrocytes have been evaluated by ⁵⁵Fe autoradiography.
Differences in the kinetic parameters of the erythropoietic mouse bone marrow compared with the rat bone marrow are reported, whose interpretation has required a more detailed analysis of the original model.     

Prostaglandin E(2) and stem cell factor can deliver opposing signals to B lymphocyte precursors

The synthetic prostanoid, 16,16-dimethyl PGE(2), suppressed B lymphopoiesis in mice and proliferation of normal B cell precursors or the F10 pro-B cell line to interleukin 7 in culture. This was not the case with two other prostanoids, PGD(2) and PGF(2alpha), or agonists for PGI(2) agonist and thromboxane A(2) agonist receptors. PGE(2), but not the related prostanoids or agonists, induced apoptosis in F10 cells. The apoptotic response was mediated by the EP2 class of PGE(2) receptors and required an increase in intracellular cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate, activation of protein kinase A, and protein synthesis. The influence of PGE(2) on F10 cells was diminished in the presence of a cloned stromal cell line or stem cell factor. These findings describe another potential regulatory circuit in bone marrow which might influence B lymphopoiesis under disease or steady-state conditions.     

The proliferation index of specific bone marrow cell compartments from myelodysplastic syndromes is associated with the diagnostic and patient outcome

Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are clonal stem cell disorders which frequently show a hypercellular dysplastic bone marrow (BM) associated with inefficient hematopoiesis and peripheral cytopenias due to increased apoptosis and maturation blockades. Currently, little is known about the role of cell proliferation in compensating for the BM failure syndrome and in determining patient outcome. Here, we analyzed the proliferation index (PI) of different compartments of BM hematopoietic cells in 106 MDS patients compared to both normal/reactive BM (n = 94) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML; n = 30 cases) using multiparameter flow cytometry. Our results show abnormally increased overall BM proliferation profiles in MDS which significantly differ between early/low-risk and advanced/high-risk cases. Early/low-risk patients showed increased proliferation of non-lymphoid CD34⁺ precursors, maturing neutrophils and nucleated red blood cells (NRBC), while the PI of these compartments of BM precursors progressively fell below normal values towards AML levels in advanced/high-risk MDS. Decreased proliferation of non-lymphoid CD34⁺ and NRBC precursors was significantly associated with adverse disease features, shorter overall survival (OS) and transformation to AML, both in the whole series and when low- and high-risk MDS patients were separately considered, the PI of NRBC emerging as the most powerful independent predictor for OS and progression to AML. In conclusion, assessment of the PI of NRBC, and potentially also of other compartments of BM precursors (e.g.: myeloid CD34⁺ HPC), could significantly contribute to a better management of MDS.     

Nucleolar morphology and cell proliferation kinetics of thymic lymphocytes

Proliferation kinetics of cells of the lymphocytic series were studied in mouse thymuses using ³H-methyl-thymidine (³H-TdR) as a tracer of DNA synthesis and employing autoradiographic technique. Cells were allocated arbitrarily to several compartments according to their degree of maturity and nucleolar morphology. Serial sampling after continuous ³H-TdR injection showed that thymic cells of the lymphocytic series constitute a small highly proliferating pool that feeds into a large nonproliferating pool. Lymphoblasts with dense and trabeculate nucleoli and prolymphocytes with trabeculate nucleoli represent multiplicative compartments and belong to the proliferating pool. A fraction of multiplicative precursors enters a ‘dormant’ state and these immature lymphocytes are morphologically characterized by ring-shaped nucleoli. Multiplicative compartments and non-dividing compartments of immature lymphocytes differ significantly in labeling indices, kinetics of labeling in serial samples and in other kinetic parameters, namely in the efflux from the unlabeled pool, labeling increment and efflux from the labeled pool. Serially connected compartments of lymphoblasts with dense and trabeculate nucleoli, prolymphocytes with trabeculate nucleoli and mature lymphocytes, represent the main stream of cell differentiation and maturation. At least a portion of mature lymphocytes proceeds during maturation from the compartment of cells with trabeculate nucleoli to the compartment of cells with ring-shaped nucleoli. The presence of proliferating and ‘dormant’ precursors suggests that lymphopoiesis in thymuses may correspond to the advantaged logarithmic system of multiplication.     

Interactions between lymphocytes and hematopoietic progenitor cells in normal and leukemic human bone marrow (phase contrast observations)

Single cell observations of normal and of leukemic human bone marrow cells demonstrated cell-cell interactions of lymphocytes with hematopoietic progenitor cells. In all cases lymphocytes and target cells were from the same individual. Lymphocyte-target cell interactions occurred more frequently with normal committed progenitor cells and leukemic blast cells from acute myeloid leukemia than with precursor cells of the proliferative cell pool, including myeloblasts, promonocytes, erythroblasts and megakaryocytes. Both induction of mitosis and degeneration of the progenitor cells occurred after cell-cell interaction with almost the same frequency. Acute myeloid leukemic blast cells degenerated after contact with lymphocytes with the same frequency as normal progenitor cells (i. e. in 16% of cell contacts), but especially during mitosis. In contrast, normal and regenerating bone marrow progenitor cells from myeloproliferative diseases demonstrated no degeneration after cell-cell interaction with lymphocytes during mitosis. Otherwise the induction of mitoses by lymphocyte-target cell interactions was more frequently observed in normal progenitor cells than in leukemic blasts.     

Different Sensitivities of Granulocyte-Macrophage and Erythroid Progenitor Cells of Normal Human Bone Marrow to S-Phase-Specific Agents

The extraordinary sensitivity of early erythroid progenitor cells (BFU-e) of normal human bone marrow to tritiated thymidine ([³H]TdR) was studied. While exposure of bone-marrow cells to [³H]TdR for 1 hr resulted in the death of only 40% of the granulocyte-macrophage progenitor cells (CFU-c), 90% of BFU-e were killed. Experiments in which normal bone-marrow cells were mixed with bone-marrow cells which had been exposed to [³H]TdR demonstrated that the excessive killing of BFU-e by [³H]TdR reflected carry-over of the [³H]TdR by the exposed cells. A carry-over effect was not observed for CFU-c, suggesting the presence of a fundamental difference in the metabolism of TdR between CFU-c and BFU-e. There was a suggestion of a carry-over effect regarding two other S-phase-specific agents, hydroxyurea and 1-β-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine.     

The effect of 3,4-disuccinyldianhydrogalactitol, N-nitrosourea and their combination on DNA synthesis in normal and mouse P388 tumor cells

The rates of incorporation of 2-14C-thymidine into DNA of leukemia P388, bone marrow, gastrointestinal mucosa and spleen cells at various time after administration of 3,4-disuccinyldianhydrogalactitol (DisuDAG), 1-methyl-1-nitrosourea (MNU), 1-(2-hydroxyethyl)-3-(2-chloroethyl)-3-nitrosourea (HECNU) and their combinations at different doses to mice with leukemia P388 (solid form) were studied. DisuDAG (80 mg/kg) induced the deep and the stable inhibition in DNA synthesis of leukemia P388, bone marrow and spleen cells. The combination of DisuDAG and HECNU at small doses induced the deep and the stable suppression of DNA synthesis in tumor cells, however DNA synthesis in normal dividing cells was shown to recover more rapidly than in leukemia P388 cells. Administration of the combination of DisuDAG with MNU to tumor-bearing mice induced more stable inhibition of DNA synthesis in tumor cells in comparison with MNU and DisuDAG. In vivo inhibition of DNA synthesis in leukemia P388 cells with DisuDAG and HECNU was not due to damage in pool of precursors (TCA soluble fraction).     

Studies on the generation of B lymphocytes in fetal liver and bone marrow.

With the use of immunofluorescence techniques, cells containing cytoplasmic IgM (cIgM+), but lacking detectable surface IgM (sIgM+), have been identified in mouse fetal liver and adult bone marrow as a distinct cell population to sIgM+ B lymphocytes. We have shown that there is a considerable difference in the rate of entry of cIgM+ and sIgM+ cells into DNA synthesis in these locations. Moreover, within the cIgM+ population, the largest cells are the main group entering DNA synthesis. Our results are compatible with the notion that a pool of rapidly proliferating, large cIgM+ cells is present in fetal liver and adult bone marrow and that these cells give rise to populations of smaller cIgM+ cells, which move out of cell cycle, and convert to sIgM+ B lymphocytes. However, we recognize that this interpretation is speculative. Finally, we have shown that fetal bone marrow is a site of generation of sIgM+ B lymphocytes, but the question as to whether these cells are derived from Ig- precursors within marrow itself remains open.     

In senescence,age‐associated B cells secrete TNFα and inhibit survival of B‐cell precursors*

Aged mice exhibit ~ 5–10‐fold increases in an ordinarily minor CD21/35^? CD23^? mature B‐cell subset termed age‐associated B cells (ABCs). ABCs from old, but not young, mice induce apoptosis in pro‐B cells directly through secretion of TNFα. In addition, aged ABCs, via TNFα, stimulate bone marrow cells to suppress pro‐B‐cell growth. ABC effects can be prevented by the anti‐inflammatory cytokine IL‐10. Notably, CD21/35⁺ CD23⁺ follicular (FO) splenic and FO‐like recirculating bone marrow B cells in both young and aged mice contain a subpopulation that produces IL‐10. Unlike young adult FO B cells, old FO B cells also produce TNFα; however, secretion of IL‐10 within this B‐cell population ameliorates the TNFα‐mediated effects on B‐cell precursors. Loss of B‐cell precursors in the bone marrow of old mice in vivo was significantly associated with increased ABC relative to recirculating FO‐like B cells. Adoptive transfer of aged ABC into RAG‐2 KO recipients resulted in significant losses of pro‐B cells within the bone marrow. These results suggest that alterations in B‐cell composition during old age, in particular, the increase in ABC within the B‐cell compartments, contribute to a pro‐inflammatory environment within the bone marrow. This provides a mechanism of inappropriate B‐cell ‘feedback’ that promotes down‐regulation of B lymphopoiesis in old age.     

In vitro study of bone marrow from leukemia patients and patients without hematologic disease

The bone-marrow of 26 patients not affected with hematological diseases and 10 patients with untreated leukemia was investigated according to Dexter in long-term cultures. Survival time and cell content of those long-term cultures started with normal bone marrow were not influenced significantly, if reinoculation was made with autologeneic or allogeneic bone marrow. Even without repeated inoculation, leukemic cells grew for a longer time in long-term cultures than normal bone marrow cells. As far as the outcome of the disease is concerned, no conclusion can be drawn from the duration of cultivating leukemic cells growth.     

The role of separate subpopulations of bone marrow elements in regulating the proliferation processes of hemopoietic and tumor cells]

The role of intercellular interactions in regulation of proliferation process in normal and tumor cells has been studied in experiments with mouse hybrids F1 (CBA X C57BL/6). The cytostatic activity to tumor cells has been shown to possess both adherent and nonadherent cells of bone marrow. The adherent cell-effectors inhibit, nonadherent ones stimulate the DNA synthesis in myelokaryocytes of normal bone marrow. During the activation of bone-marrow proliferation (under 10-hour immobilized stress) the cytostatic effect of nonadherent cells to tumor ones grows; the myelokaryocyte proliferation is stimulated on the 4th day after immobilized stress. The cytostatic activity of adherent cell-effectors remains to be low up to 7th day after immobilization. The maximum of depression in cytostatic function of the adherent elements coincides with the peak of bone marrow proliferation activity (6th day). The character of changes in cytostatic activity of adherent cells to tumor and nontumor ones is of the same type. The data obtained testify to the generality of regulation mechanisms in proliferation of tumor and normal cells.     

Cell-stroma interactions in monocytopoiesis

Abstract We have used immunohistochemistry to distinguish monocytes from early granulocyte precursors in trephine biopsies, in order to determine the distribution of monocytopoiesis within bone marrow. Developing granulocytes and monocytes have extensively overlapping immunophenotypes, but differential expression of calgranulin by monocytes and granulocytes during their maturation permitted the use of this antigen as a marker of bone marrow monocytes. In addition to morphologically normal bone marrow biopsies, in which monocyte numbers are relatively low, we studied pathological conditions in which either monocytopoiesis or granulopoiesis is selectively increased. By contrast with the highly zonal distribution of developing granulocytes, we found that monocytes were dispersed singly throughout the bone marrow. There was no evidence of preferential localisation of monocytes to particular stromal compartments. We hypothesise that developing monocytes are highly mobile within the bone marrow stroma and are relatively independent of physical stromal contacts for differentiation signals.     

Evidence for a common leukemia-associated antigen in acute myelogenous leukemia

Summary An antiserum was raised in rabbits to extracts of a pool of acute myelogenous leukemia cells. The immunization protocol used (antibody feedback) gave rise to antisera with marked specificity for AML extracts. After absorption, the antiserum demonstrated essentially no reactivity with cell extracts from 12 individual normal peripheral blood samples, while it reacted positively with 16 individual extracts from AML cells. Reactivity was assayed by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The antiserum was not reactive with extracts from normal PHA-induced blast cells, with extracts of bone marrow cells from six individuals, or with three individual extracts of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) blast cells. These data indicate that this antiserum is detecting an antigen that is common to AML cells but may not be common to other blast cells.     

STEM CELL KINETICS IN THE L 5222 RAT LEUKAEMIA

The behaviour of normal haemopoietic stem cells of the bone marrow during the development of the acute transferable rat leukaemia, L 5222, has been investigated. The granulopoietic committed stem cells, measured by the in vitro colony technique, showed a marked decrease to less than half normal levels. Pluripotent stem cells included in the small lymphocytes of the bone marrow, and labelled with ³H-thymidine by the complete labelling method, showed only a modest decrease in number and an unchanged labelling intensity. The results suggest that in this leukaemia the pluripotent stem cells may be affected in such a way that they are unable to react by proliferation to the depletion of the succeeding cell compartments. This might be due to inhibition by leukaemic cells or to a disturbed feedback regulation between the committed and pluripotent stem cell compartments.     

Origin and differentiation of natural killer cells. I. Characteristics of a transplantable NK cell precursor

To study the origin and differentiation of natural killer (NK) cells, we developed an assay for the transplantable precursor of NK(YAC-1) cells present in the bone marrow. Mice were depleted of endogenous NK(YAC-1) cells by injection of anti-asialo GM1 antibody, followed by lethal whole body irradiation. Normal syngeneic bone marrow cells were transplanted into such pretreated mice. Regeneration of NK(YAC-1) activity in the recipient mice was monitored by two different assays: the ability of spleen cells to lyse YAC-1 cells in vitro and the ability to clear i.v. injected, 125IUdR-labeled YAC-1 cells from the lungs. With both assays, a dose-response relationship between the number of bone marrow cells injected and the degree of NK(YAC-1) activity generated could be demonstrated. However, the lung clearance assay appeared superior because the NK regeneration could be detected earlier and with lower numbers of injected marrow cells. With this assay, several characteristics of the NK precursors and their differentiation could be defined. 1) The generation of mature, lytic NK cells from their transplantable precursor requires an intact "marrow microenvironment" in the recipient mice, because differentiation failed to occur in mice rendered osteopetrotic by estradiol treatment. 2) The NK(YAC-1) precursors lack the surface antigens (NK-2.1, asialo GM1, Qa-5, Thy-1) that are characteristically seen on mature NK cells. 3) The NK-precursors could be eliminated from the bone marrow with anti-Qa-2 or anti-H-2 antisera + complement, indicating that these two antigens are expressed on the precursors. The relationship between NK(YAC-1) precursors and multipotent myeloid stem cells (CFU-S) was investigated by utilizing W/Wv and Sl/Sld mutant mice. Bone marrow cells of W/Wv anemic mice, although markedly deficient in CFU-S, have a normal frequency of NK(YAC-1) precursors. Sl/Sld mice that lack a suitable microenvironment for the development of CFU-S allowed normal differentiation of NK(YAC-1) precursors when transplanted with normal bone marrow cells. Together, these data suggest that multipotent myeloid progenitor cells, as defined by the CFU-S assay, and the NK(YAC-1) precursors are not closely related.