title: Migration of human umbilical cord blood mesenchymal stem cells mediated by stromal cell-derived factor-1/CXCR4 axis via Akt, ERK, and p38 signal transduction pathways.
abstract: Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) have been used for cell-based therapies in degenerative disease and as vehicles for delivering therapeutic genes to sites of injury and tumors. Recently, umbilical cord blood (UCB) was identified as a source for MSCs, and human UCB-derived MSCs (hUCB-MSCs) can serve as an alternative source of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs). However, migration signaling pathways required for homing and recruitment of hUCB-MSCs are not fully understood. Stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1), a ligand for the CXCR4 chemokine receptor, plays a pivotal role in mobilization and homing of stem cells and modulates different biological responses in various stem cells. In this study, expression of CXCR4 in hUCB-MSCs was studied by western blot analysis and the functional role of SDF-1 was assessed. SDF-1 induced the migration of hUCB-MSCs in a dose-dependent manner. The induced migration was inhibited by the CXCR4-specific peptide antagonist (AMD3100) and by inhibitors of phosphoinositide 3-kinase (LY294002), mitogen-activated protein kinase/extracellular signal related kinase (PD98059) and p38MAPK inhibitor (SB203580). hUCB-MSCs treated with SDF-1 displayed increased phosphorylation of Akt, ERK and p38, which were inhibited by AMD3100. Small-interfering RNA-mediated knock-down of Akt, ERK and p38 blocked SDF-1 induced hUCB-MSC migration. In addition, SDF-1-induced actin polymerization was also blocked by these inhibitors. Taken together, these results demonstrate that Akt, ERK and p38 signal transduction pathways may be involved in SDF-1-mediated migration of hUCB-MSCs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Science, College of Medicine, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Chung Heon
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Ryu
authors.forename: Soon A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Seong Muk
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Jung Yeon
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: Chang Hyun
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Jeong
authors.forename: Jin Ae
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Jun
authors.forename: Ji Hyeon
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Oh
authors.forename: Sun Hwa
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Won-Il
authors.initials: WI
authors.lastname: Oh
authors.forename: Sin-Soo
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Jeun
mesh_terms: D002465:Cell Movement; D054377:Chemokine CXCL12 / Q000502:physiology*; D048049:Extracellular Signal-Regulated MAP Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D059630:Mesenchymal Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt / Q000378:metabolism; D019718:Receptors, CXCR4 / Q000502:physiology*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D017154:Stromal Cells / Q000502:physiology; D014470:Umbilical Cord / Q000166:cytology*; D048051:p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: C527276:CXCR4 protein, human; D054377:Chemokine CXCL12; D019718:Receptors, CXCR4; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt; D048049:Extracellular Signal-Regulated MAP Kinases; D048051:p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases