Activation of A2A adenosine receptors (A2ARs) protects kidneys from ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI). A2ARs are expressed on bone marrow–derived (BM-derived) cells and renal smooth muscle, epithelial, and endothelial cells. To measure the contribution of A2ARs on BM-derived cells in suppressing renal IRI, we examined the effects of a selective agonist of A2ARs, ATL146e, in chimeric mice in which BM was ablated by lethal radiation and reconstituted with donor BM cells derived from GFP, A2AR-KO, or WT mice to produce GFP→WT, A2A-KO→WT, or WT→WT mouse chimera. We found little or no repopulation of renal vascular endothelial cells by donor BM with or without renal IRI. ATL146e had no effect on IRI in A2A-KO mice or A2A-KO→WT chimera, but reduced the rise in plasma creatinine from IRI by 75% in WT mice and by 60% in WT→WT chimera. ATL146e reduced the induction of IL-6, IL-1β, IL-1ra, and TGF-α mRNA in WT→WT mice but not in A2A-KO→WT mice. Plasma creatinine was significantly greater in A2A-KO than in WT mice after IRI, suggesting some renal protection by endogenous adenosine. We conclude that protection from renal IRI by A2AR agonists or endogenous adenosine requires activation of receptors expressed on BM-derived cells.
Yuan-Ji Day, Liping Huang, Marcia J. McDuffie, Diane L. Rosin, Hong Ye, Jiang-Fan Chen, Michael A. Schwarzschild, J. Stephen Fink, Joel Linden, Mark D. Okusa
It has been proposed that bone marrow (BM) hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells are distributed along an oxygen (O2) gradient, where stem cells reside in the most hypoxic areas and proliferating progenitors are found in O2-rich areas. However, the effects of hypoxia on human hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) have not been characterized. Our objective was to evaluate the functional and molecular responses of human BM progenitors and stem cells to hypoxic conditions. BM lineage–negative (Lin–) CD34+CD38– cells were cultured in serum-free medium under 1.5% O2 (hypoxia) or 20% O2 (normoxia) for 4 days. Using limiting dilution analysis, we demonstrate that the absolute number of SCID-repopulating cells (SRCs) increased by 5.8-fold in hypoxic cultures compared with normoxia, and by 4.2-fold compared with freshly isolated Lin–CD34+CD38– cells. The observed increase in BM-repopulating activity was associated with a preferential expansion of Lin–CD34+CD38– cells. We also demonstrate that, in response to hypoxia, hypoxia-inducible factor-1α protein was stabilized, surface expression of angiogenic receptors was upregulated, and VEGF secretion increased in BM Lin–CD34+ cultures. The use of low O2 levels to enhance the survival and/or self-renewal of human BM HSCs in vitro represents an important advance and could have valuable clinical implications.
Guénahel H. Danet, Yi Pan, Jennifer L. Luongo, Dominique A. Bonnet, M. Celeste Simon
Endothelial cell production of anticoagulant heparan sulfate (HSact) is controlled by the Hs3st1 gene, which encodes the rate-limiting enzyme heparan sulfate 3-O-sulfotransferase-1 (3-OST-1). In vitro, HSact dramatically enhances the neutralization of coagulation proteases by antithrombin. The in vivo role of HSact was evaluated by generating Hs3st1–/– knockout mice. Hs3st1–/– animals were devoid of 3-OST-1 enzyme activity in plasma and tissue extracts. Nulls showed dramatic reductions in tissue levels of HSact but maintained wild-type levels of tissue fibrin accumulation under both normoxic and hypoxic conditions. Given that vascular HSact predominantly occurs in the subendothelial matrix, mice were subjected to a carotid artery injury assay in which ferric chloride administration induces de-endothelialization and occlusive thrombosis. Hs3st1–/– and Hs3st1+/+ mice yielded indistinguishable occlusion times and comparable levels of thrombin•antithrombin complexes. Thus, Hs3st1–/– mice did not show an obvious procoagulant phenotype. Instead, Hs3st1–/– mice exhibited genetic background–specific lethality and intrauterine growth retardation, without evidence of a gross coagulopathy. Our results demonstrate that the 3-OST-1 enzyme produces the majority of tissue HSact. Surprisingly, this bulk of HSact is not essential for normal hemostasis in mice. Instead, 3-OST-1–deficient mice exhibited unanticipated phenotypes suggesting that HSact or additional 3-OST-1–derived structures may serve alternate biologic roles.
Sassan HajMohammadi, Keiichi Enjyoji, Marc Princivalle, Patricia Christi, Miroslav Lech, David Beeler, Helen Rayburn, John J. Schwartz, Samad Barzegar, Ariane I. de Agostini, Mark J. Post, Robert D. Rosenberg, Nicholas W. Shworak
Hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs) normally reside in the bone marrow (BM) but can be mobilized into the peripheral blood (PB) after treatment with GCSF or chemotherapy. In previous studies, we showed that granulocyte precursors accumulate in the BM during mobilization induced by either GCSF or cyclophosphamide (CY), leading to the accumulation of active neutrophil proteases in this tissue. We now report that mobilization of HPCs by GCSF coincides in vivo with the cleavage of the N-terminus of the chemokine receptor CXCR4 on HPCs resident in the BM and mobilized into the PB. This cleavage of CXCR4 on mobilized HPCs results in the loss of chemotaxis in response to the CXCR4 ligand, the chemokine stromal cell–derived factor-1 (SDF-1/CXCL12). Furthermore, the concentration of SDF-1 decreased in vivo in the BM of mobilized mice, and this decrease coincided with the accumulation of serine proteases able to directly cleave and inactivate SDF-1. Since both SDF-1 and its receptor, CXCR4, are essential for the homing and retention of HPCs in the BM, the proteolytic degradation of SDF-1, together with that of CXCR4, could represent a critical step leading to the mobilization of HPCs into the PB in response to GCSF or CY.
Jean-Pierre Lévesque, Jean Hendy, Yasushi Takamatsu, Paul J. Simmons, Linda J. Bendall
Research Article
Masayuki Iwano, David Plieth, Theodore M. Danoff, Chengsen Xue, Hirokazu Okada, Eric G. Neilson