title: Flow cytometric and functional characterization of AC133+ cells from human umbilical cord blood.
abstract: AC133+ cells may represent an alternative source of transplantable haemopoietic progenitor cells to CD34+ cells. Here, we have addressed the characterization of umbilical cord blood (UCB) AC133+ cells and compared their immunophenotypic and functional features with those of UCB CD34+ cells. UCB AC133+ and CD34+ cell fractions were purified by magnetic cell sorting, analysed by flow cytometry, tested for their content in blast cell colony-forming units (CFU-Bl), erythroid and granulocyte-macrophage colony-forming units before and after expansion in the presence of various haemopoietic growth factor combinations. Median AC133+ cell yield was 62.3%, and median AC133+ population purity was 97.9%. AC133+ cells were found to contain significantly more CFU-Bl than CD34+ cells; furthermore, the replating efficiency, i.e. the number of CFU-Bl capable of generating secondary colonies, was higher in the former than in the latter cells. Both AC133+ and CD34+ cells displayed an increased ability to give rise to committed progenitors after 7-day expansion in liquid cultures. These data suggest that the AC133+ cell subset is a heterogeneous pool of immature and more differentiated cells that can be maintained and expanded in well-defined culture conditions. In comparison with CD34+ cells, UCB AC133+ cells appear to contain a higher number of early haemopoietic progenitors.
authors.affiliation: Division of Paediatric Haematology and Oncology, Blood Transfusion Bank, Division of Obstetrics, and Laboratory of Oncology, G. Gaslini Institute, Genoa, Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pasino
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lanza
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Marotta
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Scarso
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: De Biasio
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Amato
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Corcione
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Pistoia
authors.forename: P G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Mori
mesh_terms: D000071916:AC133 Antigen; D015703:Antigens, CD; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000166:cytology; D005434:Flow Cytometry / Q000379:methods; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000032:analysis*; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D010455:Peptides / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D000071916:AC133 Antigen; D015703:Antigens, CD; D006023:Glycoproteins; C000606023:PROM1 protein, human; D010455:Peptides