title: Very small embryonic-like stem cells from the murine bone marrow differentiate into epithelial cells of the lung.
abstract: The view that adult stem cells are lineage restricted has been challenged by numerous reports of bone marrow (BM)-derived cells giving rise to epithelial cells. Previously, we demonstrated that nonhematopoietic BM cells are the primary source of BM-derived lung epithelial cells. Here, we tested the hypothesis that very small embryonic like cells (VSELs) are responsible for this engraftment. We directly compared the level of BM-derived epithelial cells after transplantation of VSELs, hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells, or other nonhematopoietic cells. VSELs clearly had the highest rate of forming epithelial cells in the lung. By transplanting VSELs from donor mice expressing H2B-GFP under a type 2 pneumocyte-specific promoter, we demonstrate that this engraftment occurs by differentiation and not fusion. This is the first report of VSELs differentiating into an endodermal lineage in vivo, thereby potentially crossing germ layer lineages. Our data suggest that Oct4+ VSELs in the adult BM exhibit broad differentiation potential.
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, and Yale Flow Cytometry Core Facility, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
authors.forename: Susannah H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Kassmer
authors.forename: Huiyan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Ping-Xia
authors.initials: PX
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Emanuela M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Bruscia
authors.forename: Kartoosh
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Heydari
authors.forename: Joo-Hyeon
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Carla F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Susannah H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Kassmer
authors.forename: Diane S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Krause
authors.forename: Diane
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Krouse
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology; D053595:Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D048091:Guided Tissue Regeneration; D006168:Guinea Pigs; D008168:Lung / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018345:Mice, Knockout
keywords: Adult stem cells; Bone marrow; Differentiation; Fluorescent protein reporter genes; Plasticity; Respiratory tract; Stem cell transplantation; Tissue regeneration