Rescue of the engraftment capacity of N-cad shRNA-transduced cells. (A) LSK cells were transduced with lentivirus expressing shN-cad-1 (GFP) and retrovirus expressing sil.mut.N-cad (mKO). After gene transduction, GFP−mKO+ (shN-cad-1−/sil.mut.N-cad+), GFP+mKO+ (shN-cad-1+/sil.mut.-N-cad+), and GFP+mKO− (shN-cad-1+/sil.mut.-cad−) cells were sorted and transplanted into lethally irradiated mice with 2 × 105 competitor cells. Scramble shRNA-transduced cells were used as a control. Six months after BMT, the percentage of donor-derived cells in PB (B), BM MNCs (C), BM LSK cells (D), spleen MNCs (E), and spleen LSK cells (F) was analyzed. Cotransduction with sil.mut.N-cad rescued the LSK cell engraftment capacity that was lost after shN-cad transduction alone. Data are mean ± SD; n = 5/group. *P < .01. Note that shN-cad-1–transduced cells showed long-term engraftment in the spleen.
