title: Low c-Kit Expression Level Induced by Stem Cell Factor Does Not Compromise Transplantation of Hematopoietic Stem Cells.
abstract: The c-Kit expression level is decreased in regenerating bone marrow, and such bone marrow performs poorly when co-transplanted with normal bone marrow. We asked whether diminished numbers of c-Kit receptors on hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) after their internalization induced by the binding of the cytokine stem cell factor (SCF) would jeopardize transplantability of HSPCs. We used a battery of functional assays to evaluate the capacity of HSPCs with markedly different c-Kit expression levels to be transplanted. Surprisingly, our experiments testing the homing of transplanted HSPCs to bone marrow of recipient mice and their short-term and long-term engraftment did not reveal any defects in HSPCs with severely reduced numbers of c-Kit receptor molecules. This unexpected result can be ascribed to the fact that HSPCs exposed to SCF replace the consumed c-Kit receptors rapidly. This article demonstrates that exposure of HSPCs to SCF and diminished number of c-Kit receptors in their cell membranes do not compromise the capacity of HSPCs to reconstitute damaged hematopoietic tissue.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Pathological Physiology, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic; Department of Biological Science and Technology, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Pingtung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chia-Ling
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Pathological Physiology, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Katerina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Faltusova
authors.affiliation: Institute of Pathological Physiology, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Molik
authors.affiliation: Institute of Pathological Physiology, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Filipp
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Savvulidi
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Science and Technology, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Pingtung, Taiwan. Electronic address: kotungc@mail.npust.edu.tw.
authors.forename: Ko-Tung
authors.initials: KT
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Pathological Physiology, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic. Electronic address: necas@cesnet.cz.
authors.forename: Emanuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Necas
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000502:physiology*; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000528:radiation effects; D005260:Female; D006085:Graft Survival; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000592:standards*; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D019009:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-kit / Q000032:analysis*; D012038:Regeneration / Q000528:radiation effects; D019089:Stem Cell Factor / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D019089:Stem Cell Factor; D019009:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-kit
keywords: Bone marrow transplantation; Hematopoietic stem cell; Irradiation; Stem cell factor; c-Kit receptor