Ex-Vivo Generation and Expansion of Both Lymphoid and Myeloid Lineages from Human Cord Blood (CB) HSC Using a Serum-Free Human Mesenchymal Stem Cell Based Culture System.

The in vitro culture of a hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) graft with either media containing animal-derived components or a feeder layer with ill-defined pathogenic potential such as xenogeneic cell lines or cells modified by viral transformation poses risks that concern scientists and regulatory agencies. In the present studies, we avoided these risks by evaluating the ability of a human stromal-based serum free culture system (hu-ST) to support the ex-vivo expansion/maintenance of human CB HSC. CB CD34⁺ enriched cells were cultured in serum free medium in the presence of hu-ST with SCF, bFGF, LIF and Flt-3, and the cultures were analyzed for expansion, phenotype and clonogenic ability. We have previously reported the ability of this culture system to allow the successful expansion/maintenance of HSC along the myeloid pathway. In the present study, we investigated whether we could further develop this culture system to simultaneously expand myelopoiesis and lymphopoiesis in vitro. To this end, cord blood CD34+ cells were cultured for a total of 28 days and analyzed every 3 days for expansion and phenotype. There was a progressive increase in CD34 cell number with time in culture. The differentiative profile was primarily shifted towards the myeloid lineage with the presence of CD33, CD15, and CD14. However, a significant number of CD7+ cells were also generated. At week 2 of culture, we observed that 30% of the cells in the culture were CD7 positive. These CD7+CD2-CD3-CD5-CD56-CD16-CD34- cells were then sorted and either plated on top of new irradiated hu-ST layers in the presence of SCF, FLT-3, IL-7, IL-2, and IL-15, or cultured with IL-4, GM-CSF, and FLT-3 in the absence of stroma. Both of these cultures were maintained for an additional 2 weeks. In both sets of cultures, further expansion in the total cell number occurred with the time in culture, and by the end of the week 2, we observed that 25.3±4.18% of the cells had become CD56+ CD3-, a phenotype consistent with that of NK cells. Furthermore, cytotoxicity assays were performed and showed cytotoxic activity that increased in an E:T ratio-dependent fashion. 38.6% of the CD7+ cells grown in the presence of IL-4, GM-CSF, and FLT-3 became CD123+CD11c-, a phenotype characteristic of nonactivated dendritic cells, while 7.3–12.1% adopted an activitated dendritic cell phenotype CD83+CD1a+. In summary, we developed an in vitro culture system that reproducibly allows the effective ex vivo expansion of human cord blood HSCs while maintaining the capability of generating both myeloid and lymphoid hematopoiesis in vitro.