Efficient Erythropoiesis From Human Embryonic Stem Cells Through Dimerization of Intracellular MPL.

Unlimited self renewal capacity and the ability to differentiate into any cell type make human pluripotent stem cells (PSC) a potential source for the ex vivo manufacture of red blood cells (RBC) for safe transfusion. Current methods of RBC differentiation from PSC suffer from low yields of RBCs, most of which contain embryonic rather than adult or fetal hemoglobins. Therefore, efficient clinical translation of this strategy is critically dependent on the development of novel methods to enhance the generation of functional RBCs from PSC. We have previously shown that dimerization of the intracellular component of MPL (the thrombopoietin receptor), induces expansion of myelo-erythroid progenitors (MEP) from human cord blood as well as their terminal differentiation into enucleated RBC through unique, EPO-independent mechanisms (Parekh et al, 2012). Our goal was to investigate the potential of intracellular MPL dimerization to induce erythropoiesis from human PSC and to identify the signaling pathways activated by this strategy.

Human embryonic stem cell (hESC) lines H1 and HES3 were transduced with a lentiviral vector to express the fusion protein F36V-MPL (containing the ligand binding domain F36V and the intracytoplasmic portion of MPL). Dimerization of F36V-MPL was accomplished by addition of the synthetic ligand AP20187 (aka CID) during culture (with or without erythropoietin) on OP9 stroma in the absence of other cytokines. F36V-MPL transduced-hESC that did not receive CID and F36V-transduced hESC cultured with CID served as negative controls. Flow cytometry and Colony Forming Unit (CFU) assays were used to analyze erythroid differentiation. Phosflow and Western Blot were used to analyze cell signaling. MEP generated during hESC differentiation were defined as cells co-expressing GlyA and CD41a/CD42a.

F36V-MPL dimerization induced significantly more Glycophorin A+ cells (P=0.0001; n=5) and 10-fold higher number of erythroid CFU (P=0.0007; n=15) as compared to negative controls. The effect was consistent across different hESC cell lines. The increased yield of erythroid cells was not due to an overall increase in cell proliferation as the total yield of cells was not statistically different between treated and untreated cultures. This effect was seen in the absence of any hematopoietic cytokines, including erythropoietin (EPO), a critical cytokine for erythropoiesis and an integral component of all ex vivo PSC erythroid differentiation protocols, indicating that MPL dimerization alone is sufficient to induce erythropoiesis from hESCs. Erythroid output was further enhanced in an additive manner in the presence of EPO (P=0.0058; n=5). In order to identify the point at which MPL dimerization affects erythropoiesis, CID was added during differentiation directly from hESC or to isolated MEP generated from hESC. CID and EPO increased the number of MEP compared to untreated controls, demonstrating that MPL dimerization induces the generation of early erythroid progenitors. In addition, CID drove erythroid differentiation from MEP more efficiently than EPO, demonstrated by a significantly higher frequency of total erythroid cells (P=0.02; n=3), and 4-fold increase in yield of enucleated RBC. This indicates that CID has a greater effect on terminal erythroid differentiation than EPO. We then investigated the signaling mechanism activated by F36V-MPL dimerization and found that, unlike the full-length MPL receptor, which activates both STAT5/JAK2 and AKT pathways, F36V-MPL dimerization activated AKT but not STAT5 or JAK2 phosphorylation. PI3K/AKT inhibitors (LY294002 and AKT inhibitor IV) effectively inhibited erythroid differentiation of transduced hESC cultured in the presence of CID (P=0.0442; n=2) indicating that MPL dimerization induced erythropoiesis is dependent on AKT signaling.

F36V-MPL dimerization during hESC-derived hematopoiesis induces EPO-independent erythroid differentiation through AKT signaling, by both generating erythroid progenitors and promoting maturation of RBC. MPL dimerization also is more potent than EPO in inducing erythropoiesis from hESC and has an additive effect when combined with EPO, making this a potential strategy for the generation of therapeutically relevant levels of functional enucleated RBCs from PSC.

No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.