Abstract
Primary myelofibrosis (PMF) is myeloproliferative neoplasm characterized by clonal myeloproliferation, dysmegakaryopoiesis, extramedullary hematopoiesis associated with myelofibrosis and altered stroma in bone marrow and spleen. Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are reported to play a pivotal role in fibrosis and stromal changes are considered as a reactive counterpart of the cytokine production by clonal hematopoietic cells. The present study shows that MSCs from patients demonstrate functional abnormalities that are unexpectedly maintained ex-vivo, in culture.
Material and Methods: we studied MSCs and bone marrow sections from PMF patients (n=12) as compared to healthy donors (HDs) (n=6). We tested their proliferation, immunophenotype, hematopoiesis supporting capacities, differentiation abilities, in-vivo osteogenic assays, and performed secretome and transcriptome analysis.
Results: We found that PMF-MSCs exhibit similar proliferative capacity and long-term hematopoiesis supporting abilities as compare to healthy donors. They overproduce interleukin 6, VEGF, RANTES, PDGF, BMP-2 and surprisingly TGF-beta1. MSCs from fibrotic PMF patients express high levels of glycosaminoglycans. Adipocytes and chondrocytes differentiation abilities were not different as compared to HDs but PMF-MSCs exhibit an increased in vitro potential. Implementation on scaffold in nude mice confirmed, in vivo, this increased osteogenic potential. We then looked into gene expression and discovered that PMF-MSCs show an original transcriptome signature related to osteogenic lineage and TGF-beta1. Indeed, osteogenic genes such as Runx2, Dlx5, Twist1, Noggin, Sclerostin, GDF5 and Serpine1 are deregulated and suggest a potential osteoprogenitor priming of PMF-MSCs. These molecular results also advocated for a TGF-beta1 impregnation that prompted us to study its impact on PMF-MSCs osteogenic differentiation. First, we then showed that Smad2 is intrinsically over-activated in PMF-MSC and that stimulation by TGF-beta1 is associated with an increase phospho-Smad2 level and an enhancement of bone master gene regulator Runx2 expression. Then, we inhibited TGF-beta1 pathway by by SB-431542 and evidenced a specific behavior of osteogenic MSCs differentiation in patients, suggesting involvement of TGF-beta1 in osteogenic impairment.
Conclusion: Altogether, our results identify a signature of PMF-MSCs and suggest that they participate in PMF osteogenic dysregulation independently from in vivo local stimulation by clonal hematopoietic cells
No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Author notes
Asterisk with author names denotes non-ASH members.
