title: Implantable microenvironments to attract hematopoietic stem/cancer cells.
abstract: The environments that harbor hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells are critical to explore for a better understanding of hematopoiesis during health and disease. These compartments often are inaccessible for controlled and rapid experimentation, thus limiting studies to the evaluation of conventional cell culture and transgenic animal models. Here we describe the manufacture and image-guided monitoring of an engineered microenvironment with user-defined properties that recruits hematopoietic progenitors into the implant. Using intravital imaging and fluorescence molecular tomography, we show in real time that the cell homing and retention process is efficient and durable for short- and long-term engraftment studies. Our results indicate that bone marrow stromal cells, precoated on the implant, accelerate the formation of new sinusoidal blood vessels with vascular integrity at the microcapillary level that enhances the recruitment hematopoietic progenitor cells to the site. This implantable construct can serve as a tool enabling the study of hematopoiesis.
authors.affiliation: Center for Engineering in Medicine and Surgical Services, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
authors.forename: Jungwoo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Jack
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Milwid
authors.forename: Joshua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dunham
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vinegoni
authors.forename: Rostic
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gorbatov
authors.forename: Yoshiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Iwamoto
authors.forename: Fangjing
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Keyue
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Kimberley
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hatfield
authors.forename: Marianne
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Enger
authors.forename: Sahba
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shafiee
authors.forename: Emmet
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: McCormack
authors.forename: Benjamin L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Ebert
authors.forename: Ralph
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Weissleder
authors.forename: Martin L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Yarmush
authors.forename: Biju
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Parekkadan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005109:Extracellular Matrix; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D006801:Humans; D020100:Hydrogels; D051379:Mice; D016688:Mice, Inbred NOD; D008819:Mice, Nude; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D055153:Stem Cell Niche; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds; D014054:Tomography / Q000379:methods; D059016:Tumor Microenvironment
chemical_list: D020100:Hydrogels