Osteoblast Stimulating Factor-5 Regulates B Lymphopoiesis Via Inhibiting Pre B Cell Proliferation

B lymphopoiesis is a complex and multistep process originated from hematopoietic stem cells (HSC). Recent studies showed that the microenvironment surrounding progenitor cells affects the development of B cells. Soluble factors that bone marrow (BM) stromal cells produce are crucial to the process. For example, SDF1α regulates the survival and homing of HSC and the lineage progenitor cells. IL7 is produced by osteoblasts and promotes the differentiation and proliferation of pre B cells. Although various molecules have been reported for the important roles, there are many proteins, which are secreted from stromal cells and function as a direct regulator of progenitors, remained unknown. In this study, we aimed to find novel secreted or membrane proteins, which modulate B cell differentiation via the microenvironment.

We used MS-5 stromal cells to identify the novel secreted regulators because the cell line is known to have the potential to support HSC and B lymphopoiesis. The secreted proteins have signal sequence to pass into endoplasmic reticulum, followed by cell surface expression. Thus, we applied the modified signal sequence trap method (Tashiro et al, Science, 1993). Briefly, the cDNA library from MS-5 was inserted to the HPC4-TF/pEFBOS vector to produce fusion proteins, composed of proteins from cDNA, a HPC4-epitope, and a tissue factor transmembrane. With the screening of each plasmid based on the capacity to express HPC4-epitope on cell surface, we successfully identified 21 secreted or transmembrane proteins, which MS-5 cells produce. Among these proteins, pleiotrophin, proliferin-2 and osteoblast stimulating factor-5 (OSF-5) were selected because of the limited mRNA expression within stromal cell lines. For the functional analysis without the effects on the process of fetus development, we generated transgenic chimera mice (Tg), which produce the indicated protein under the control of kappa chain promoter. As a result, OSF-5, but not pleiotrophin or proliferin-2, Tg showed impaired B lymphocyte development. In OSF-5 chimera mice, the number of B lineage cells was decreased. B220⁺ cells in the spleen as well as pre B cells and immature B cells in the BM were significantly decreased (B220^low CD43^low IgM^- pre B cells: 2.2 ± 0.2 x 10⁵ cells in OSF-5 Tg vs. 6.7 ± 1.9 x 10⁵ cells in control, B220⁺ CD43^- IgM⁺ immature B cells: 2.3 ± 0.6 x 10⁵ cells in OSF-5 Tg vs. 5.3 ± 0.8 x 10⁵ cells in control).

OSF-5 is widely expressed in mice BM, spleen, thymus, liver, kidney and lung, and the effects on hematopoiesis have never been examined. OSF-5 includes two splicing variants. Variant 1 is a secreted protein and known as aortic carboxypeptidase like protein. Variant 2 is a non-secreted, intracellular protein, known as adipocyte enhancer binding protein. In mice BM, OSF-5 variant 1 is secreted only from stromal cells, while OSF-5 variant 2 is expressed in hematopoietic cells. First, to exclude the cell-intrinsic effects of OSF-5, we ectopically expressed variant 2 in lineage^- Sca-1⁺ c-Kit⁺ Flt3^- HSC and co-cultured them with MS-5. As a result, the generated number of CD19⁺ B cells was not changed. In contrast, when we knocked down the secreted type of OSF-5 in OP9 stromal cell line to mimic the BM environment, the modified OP9 cells could support the proliferation of pre B cell line, 2E8 more efficiently, compared to control (7.3 ± 1.1 x 10⁵ cells in KD vs. 4.4 ± 0.7 x 10⁵ cells in control). In addition, the knock-down (KD) of variant 1 protein increased the recovered number of CD19⁺ cells in co-cultures of BM mononuclear cells (6.6 ± 2.8 x 10⁵ cells in KD vs. 4.7 ± 2.8 x 10⁵ cells in control). Finally, we found that colony-forming unit of pre B cells was decreased in the existence of OSF-5 variant 1 (17 ± 8 colonies in variant 1 vs. 198 ± 22 colonies in control). This result indicated that OSF-5 produced by BM stromal cells had a direct effect to inhibit the proliferation of pre B cells.

In conclusion, we identified OSF-5 as a BM stromal cell-derived secreted protein, which has an ability to inhibit B lymphopoiesis via regulating the pre B cell proliferation. Our findings could help us to understand molecular regulatory mechanisms of normal B lymphopoiesis as well as causes of B lymphocyte dysregulation, such as change during aging.