title: Morphological and molecular characterization of novel population of CXCR4+ SSEA-4+ Oct-4+ very small embryonic-like cells purified from human cord blood: preliminary report.
abstract: Recently, we purified from adult murine bone marrow (BM) a population of CXCR4(+), Oct-4(+) SSEA-1(+), Sca-1(+) lin(-) CD45(-) very small embryonic-like (VSEL) stem cells and hypothesized that similar cells could be also present in human cord blood (CB). Here, we report that by employing a novel two-step isolation procedure -- removal of erythrocytes by hypotonic lysis combined with multiparameter sorting -- we could isolate from CB a population of human cells that are similar to murine BM-derived VSELs, described previously by us. These CB-isolated VSELs (CB-VSEL) are very small (3-5 micro m) and highly enriched in a population of CXCR4(+)AC133(+)CD34(+)lin(-) CD45(-) CB mononuclear cells, possess large nuclei containing unorganized euchromatin and express nuclear embryonic transcription factors Oct-4 and Nanog and surface embryonic antigen SSEA-4. Further studies are needed to see if human CB-isolated VSELs similar to their murine BM-derived counterparts are endowed with pluripotent stem cell properties.
authors.affiliation: Stem Cell Biology Program at James Graham Brown Cancer Center, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40202, USA.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kucia
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Halasa
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wysoczynski
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Baskiewicz-Masiuk
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Moldenhawer
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Zuba-Surma
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Czajka
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wojakowski
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Machalinski
authors.forename: M Z
authors.initials: MZ
authors.lastname: Ratajczak
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells / Q000166:cytology; D048429:Cell Size; D053595:Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000166:cytology*; D006028:Glycosphingolipids / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D051379:Mice; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D050814:Octamer Transcription Factor-3 / Q000235:genetics*; D012313:RNA / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D019718:Receptors, CXCR4 / Q000235:genetics*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D055746:Stage-Specific Embryonic Antigens
chemical_list: D006028:Glycosphingolipids; D050814:Octamer Transcription Factor-3; D019718:Receptors, CXCR4; D055746:Stage-Specific Embryonic Antigens; C066584:stage-specific embryonic antigen-4; D012313:RNA