Damià Romero-Moya

Cord blood-derived CD34+ hematopoietic cells with low mitochondrial mass are enriched in hematopoietic repopulating stem cell function

The homeostasis of the hematopoietic stem/progenitor cell pool relies on a fine-tuned balance between self-renewal, differentiation and proliferation. Recent studies have proposed that mitochondria regulate these processes. Although recent work has contributed to understanding the role of mitochondria during stem cell differentiation, it remains unclear whether the mitochondrial content/function affects human hematopoietic stem versus progenitor function. We found that mitochondrial mass correlates strongly with mitochondrial membrane potential in CD34+ hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells. We, therefore, sorted cord blood CD34+ cells on the basis of their mitochondrial mass and analyzed the in vitro homeostasis and clonogenic potential as well as the in vivo repopulating potential of CD34+ cells with high (CD34+ MitoHigh) versus low (CD34+ MitoLow) mitochondrial mass. The CD34+ MitoLow fraction contained 6-fold more CD34+CD38− primitive cells and was enriched in hematopoietic stem cell function, as demonstrated by its significantly greater hematopoietic reconstitution potential in immuno-deficient mice. In contrast, the CD34+ MitoHigh fraction was more enriched in hematopoietic progenitor function with higher in vitro clonogenic capacity. In vitro differentiation of CD34+ MitoLow cells was significantly delayed as compared to that of CD34+ MitoHigh cells. The eventual complete differentiation of CD34+ MitoLow cells, which coincided with a robust expansion of the CD34− differentiated progeny, was accompanied by mitochondrial adaptation, as shown by significant increases in ATP production and expression of the mitochondrial genes ND1 and COX2. In conclusion, cord blood CD34+ cells with low levels of mitochondrial mass are enriched in hematopoietic repopulating stem cell function whereas high levels of mitochondrial mass identify hematopoietic progenitors. A mitochondrial response underlies hematopoietic stem/progenitor cell differentiation and proliferation of lineage-committed CD34− cells.

Concise Review: Generation of Neurons From Somatic Cells of Healthy Individuals and Neurological Patients Through Induced Pluripotency or Direct Conversion

Access to healthy or diseased human neural tissue is a daunting task and represents a barrier for advancing our understanding about the cellular, genetic, and molecular mechanisms underlying neurogenesis and neurodegeneration. Reprogramming of somatic cells to pluripotency by transient expression of transcription factors was achieved a few years ago. Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) from both healthy individuals and patients suffering from debilitating, life‐threatening neurological diseases have been differentiated into several specific neuronal subtypes. An alternative emerging approach is the direct conversion of somatic cells (i.e., fibroblasts, blood cells, or glial cells) into neuron‐like cells. However, to what extent neuronal direct conversion of diseased somatic cells can be achieved remains an open question. Optimization of current expansion and differentiation approaches is highly demanded to increase the differentiation efficiency of specific phenotypes of functional neurons from iPSCs or through somatic cell direct conversion. The realization of the full potential of iPSCs relies on the ability to precisely modify specific genome sequences. Genome editing technologies including zinc finger nucleases, transcription activator‐like effector nucleases, and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat/CAS9 RNA‐guided nucleases have progressed very fast over the last years. The combination of genome‐editing strategies and patient‐specific iPSC biology will offer a unique platform for in vitro generation of diseased and corrected neural derivatives for personalized therapies, disease modeling and drug screening. Stem Cells 2014;32:2811–2817

Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells from patients with aplastic anemia maintain functional and immune properties and do not contribute to the pathogenesis of the disease

Aplastic anemia is a life-threatening bone marrow failure disorder characterized by peripheral pancytopenia and marrow hypoplasia. The majority of cases of aplastic anemia remain idiopathic, although hematopoietic stem cell deficiency and impaired immune responses are hallmarks underlying the bone marrow failure in this condition. Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells constitute an essential component of the bone marrow hematopoietic microenvironment because of their immunomodulatory properties and their ability to support hematopoiesis, and they have been involved in the pathogenesis of several hematologic malignancies. We investigated whether bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells contribute, directly or indirectly, to the pathogenesis of aplastic anemia. We found that mesenchymal stem cell cultures can be established from the bone marrow of aplastic anemia patients and display the same phenotype and differentiation potential as their counterparts from normal bone marrow. Mesenchymal stem cells from aplastic anemia patients support the in vitro homeostasis and the in vivo repopulating function of CD34+ cells, and maintain their immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory properties. These data demonstrate that bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells from patients with aplastic anemia do not have impaired functional and immunological properties, suggesting that they do not contribute to the pathogenesis of the disease.

FLT3 activation cooperates with MLL-AF4 fusion protein to abrogate the hematopoietic specification of human ESCs

Mixed-lineage leukemia (MLL)-AF4 fusion arises prenatally in high-risk infant acute pro-B-lymphoblastic leukemia (pro-B-ALL). In human embryonic stem cells (hESCs), MLL-AF4 skewed hematoendothelial specification but was insufficient for transformation, suggesting that additional oncogenic insults seem required for MLL-AF4-mediated transformation. MLL-AF4+ pro-B-ALL expresses enormous levels of FLT3, occasionally because of activating mutations, thus representing a candidate cooperating event in MLL-AF4+ pro-B-ALL. Here, we explored the developmental impact of FLT3 activation alone, or together with MLL-AF4, in the hematopoietic fate of hESCs. FLT3 activation does not affect specification of hemogenic precursors but significantly enhances the formation of CD45(+) blood cells, and CD45(+)CD34(+) blood progenitors with clonogenic potential. However, overexpression of FLT3 mutations or wild-type FLT3 (FLT3-WT) completely abrogates hematopoietic differentiation from MLL-AF4-expressing hESCs, indicating that FLT3 activation cooperates with MLL-AF4 to inhibit human embryonic hematopoiesis. Cell cycle/apoptosis analyses suggest that FLT3 activation directly affects hESC specification rather than proliferation or survival of hESC-emerging hematopoietic derivatives. Transcriptional profiling of hESC-derived CD45(+) cells supports the FLT3-mediated inhibition of hematopoiesis in MLL-AF4-expressing hESCs, which is associated with large transcriptional changes and downregulation of genes involved in hematopoietic system development and function. Importantly, FLT3 activation does not cooperate with MLL-AF4 to immortalize/transform hESC-derived hematopoietic cells, suggesting the need of alternative (epi)-genetic cooperating hits.

Reprogramming human B cells into induced pluripotent stem cells and its enhancement by C/EBPα

B cells have been shown to be refractory to reprogramming and B-cell-derived induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) have only been generated from murine B cells engineered to carry doxycycline-inducible Oct4, Sox2, Klf4 and Myc (OSKM) cassette in every tissue and from EBV/SV40LT-immortalized lymphoblastoid cell lines. Here, we show for the first time that freshly isolated non-cultured human cord blood (CB)- and peripheral blood (PB)-derived CD19+CD20+ B cells can be reprogrammed to iPSCs carrying complete VDJH immunoglobulin (Ig) gene monoclonal rearrangements using non-integrative tetracistronic, but not monocistronic, OSKM-expressing Sendai Virus. Co-expression of C/EBPα with OSKM facilitates iPSC generation from both CB- and PB-derived B cells. We also demonstrate that myeloid cells are much easier to reprogram than B and T lymphocytes. Differentiation potential back into the cell type of their origin of B-cell-, T-cell-, myeloid- and fibroblast-iPSCs is not skewed, suggesting that their differentiation does not seem influenced by ‘epigenetic memory’. Our data reflect the actual cell-autonomous reprogramming capacity of human primary B cells because biased reprogramming was avoided by using freshly isolated primary cells, not exposed to cytokine cocktails favoring proliferation, differentiation or survival. The ability to reprogram CB/PB-derived primary human B cells offers an unprecedented opportunity for studying developmental B lymphopoiesis and modeling B-cell malignancies.

Ligand-independent FLT3 activation does not cooperate with MLL-AF4 to immortalize/transform cord blood CD34+ cells.

MLL-AF4 fusion is hallmark in high-risk infant pro-B-acute lymphoblastic leukemia (pro-B-ALL). Our limited understanding of MLL-AF4-mediated transformation reflects the absence of human models reproducing this leukemia. Hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs) constitute likely targets for transformation. We previously reported that MLL-AF4 enhanced hematopoietic engraftment and clonogenic potential in cord blood (CB)-derived CD34+ HSPCs but was not sufficient for leukemogenesis, suggesting that additional oncogenic lesions are required for MLL-AF4-mediated transformation. MLL-AF4+ pro-B-ALL display enormous levels of FLT3, and occasionally FLT3-activating mutations, thus representing a candidate cooperating event in MLL-AF4+ pro-B-ALL. We have explored whether FLT3.TKD (tyrosine kinase domain) mutation or increased expression of FLT3.WT (wild type) cooperates with MLL-AF4 to immortalize/transform CB-CD34+ HSPCs. In vivo, FLT3.TKD/FLT3.WT alone, or in combination with MLL-AF4, enhances hematopoietic repopulating function of CB-CD34+ HSPCs without impairing migration or hematopoietic differentiation. None of the animals transplanted with MLL-AF4+FLT3.TKD/WT-CD34+ HSPCs showed any sign of disease after 16 weeks. In vitro, enforced expression of FLT3.TKD/FLT3.WT conveys a transient overexpansion of MLL-AF4-expressing CD34+ HSPCs associated to higher proportion of cycling cells coupled to lower apoptotic levels, but does not augment clonogenic potential nor confer stable replating. Together, FLT3 activation does not suffice to immortalize/transform MLL-AF4-expressing CB-CD34+ HSPCs, suggesting the need of alternative (epi)-genetic cooperating oncogenic lesions.

Development Refractoriness of MLL-Rearranged Human B Cell Acute Leukemias to Reprogramming into Pluripotency

Summary Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are a powerful tool for disease modeling. They are routinely generated from healthy donors and patients from multiple cell types at different developmental stages. However, reprogramming leukemias is an extremely inefficient process. Few studies generated iPSCs from primary chronic myeloid leukemias, but iPSC generation from acute myeloid or lymphoid leukemias (ALL) has not been achieved. We attempted to generate iPSCs from different subtypes of B-ALL to address the developmental impact of leukemic fusion genes. OKSM(L)-expressing mono/polycistronic-, retroviral/lentiviral/episomal-, and Sendai virus vector-based reprogramming strategies failed to render iPSCs in vitro and in vivo. Addition of transcriptomic-epigenetic reprogramming “boosters” also failed to generate iPSCs from B cell blasts and B-ALL lines, and when iPSCs emerged they lacked leukemic fusion genes, demonstrating non-leukemic myeloid origin. Conversely, MLL-AF4-overexpressing hematopoietic stem cells/B progenitors were successfully reprogrammed, indicating that B cell origin and leukemic fusion gene were not reprogramming barriers. Global transcriptome/DNA methylome profiling suggested a developmental/differentiation refractoriness of MLL-rearranged B-ALL to reprogramming into pluripotency.

Intrahepatic transplantation of cord blood CD34 + cells into newborn NOD/SCID-IL2Rγnull mice allows efficient multi-organ and multi-lineage hematopoietic engraftment without accessory cells ☆

Advancing the current understanding in experimental and developmental hematopoiesis, hematopoietic transplantation, graft-versus-host-disease (GvHD) and graft-versusleukemia, immune system, leukemogenic processes as well as testing in pre-clinical models novel celland drug-based therapeutic approaches demand the use of xenotransplant systems [1]. Upon discovery of the scid mutation, the immune-deficient non-obese diabetic NOD/SCID mouse was developed, and rapidly became the standard model for hematopoietic xenotransplantation. Several NOD/SCID generations have evolved over the last decade [2,3]. Recently, the NOD/SCID-IL2Rγnull strain (NSG) has been developed which allows higher engraftment levels and does not develop thymic lymphoma therefore displaying a longer lifespan [4,5]. Co-transplantation of inactivated accessory cells together with CD34+ hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs) has long been associated with enhanced and more stable hematopoietic reconstitution upon xeno-transplantation [4,5]. In a clinical setting, despite that CD34+ cell-selected HSPCs have been used worldwide in allogeneic transplantation in an attempt to deplete immune cells thus reducing the risk of GvHD [6], it is now considered that accessorydepleted transplants are associated to an increased risk of opportunistic infections, secondary malignancies related to long-term immunosuppression and, more importantly, graft failure [7–9]. In such a context, it has been reported that increasing numbers of T-cells in the graft associates to decreasing graft failure rates [10]. Several experimental scenarios may require HSC or leukemic cell transplantation into newborn mice. For instance,

Cellular ontogeny and hierarchy influence the reprogramming efficiency of human B cells into induced pluripotent stem cells

Although B cells have been shown to be refractory to reprogramming into pluripotency, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) have been very recently generated, at very low efficiency, from human cord blood (CB)‐ and peripheral blood (PB)‐derived CD19+CD20u2009+u2009B cells using nonintegrative tetracistronic OSKM‐expressing Sendai Virus (SeV). Here, we addressed whether cell ontogeny and hierarchy influence the reprogramming efficiency of the B‐cell compartment. We demonstrate that human fetal liver (FL)‐derived CD19u2009+u2009B cells are 110‐fold easier to reprogram into iPSCs than those from CB/PB. Similarly, FL‐derived CD34+CD19u2009+u2009B progenitors are reprogrammed much easier than mature B cells (0.46% vs. 0.11%). All FL B‐cell iPSCs carry complete VDJH rearrangements while 55% and 45% of the FL B‐progenitor iPSCs carry incomplete and complete VDJH rearrangements, respectively, reflecting the reprogramming of developmentally different B progenitors (pro‐B vs. pre‐B) within a continuous differentiation process. Finally, our data suggest that successful B‐cell reprogramming relies on active cell proliferation, and it is MYC‐dependent as identical nonintegrative polycistronic SeV lacking MYC (OSKL or OSKLN) fail to reprogram B cells. The ability to efficiently reprogram human fetal primary B cells and B precursors offers an unprecedented opportunity for studying developmental B‐lymphopoiesis and modeling B‐cell malignances. Stem Cells 2016;34:581–587

Genetic Rescue of Mitochondrial and Skeletal Muscle Impairment in an Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Model of Coenzyme Q10 Deficiency

Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) plays a crucial role in mitochondria as an electron carrier within the mitochondrial respiratory chain (MRC) and is an essential antioxidant. Mutations in genes responsible for CoQ10 biosynthesis (COQ genes) cause primary CoQ10 deficiency, a rare and heterogeneous mitochondrial disorder with no clear genotype–phenotype association, mainly affecting tissues with high‐energy demand including brain and skeletal muscle (SkM). Here, we report a four‐year‐old girl diagnosed with minor mental retardation and lethal rhabdomyolysis harboring a heterozygous mutation (c.483Gu2009>u2009C (E161D)) in COQ4. The patients fibroblasts showed a decrease in [CoQ10], CoQ10 biosynthesis, MRC activity affecting complexes I/IIu2009+u2009III, and respiration defects. Bona fide induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSCs) lines carrying the COQ4 mutation (CQ4‐iPSCs) were generated, characterized and genetically edited using the CRISPR‐Cas9 system (CQ4ed‐iPSCs). Extensive differentiation and metabolic assays of control‐iPSCs, CQ4‐iPSCs and CQ4ed‐iPSCs demonstrated a genotype association, reproducing the disease phenotype. The COQ4 mutation in iPSC was associated with CoQ10 deficiency, metabolic dysfunction, and respiration defects. iPSC differentiation into SkM was compromised, and the resulting SkM also displayed respiration defects. Remarkably, iPSC differentiation in dopaminergic or motor neurons was unaffected. This study offers an unprecedented iPSC model recapitulating CoQ10 deficiency‐associated functional and metabolic phenotypes caused by COQ4 mutation. Stem Cells 2017;35:1687–1703