Syddansk Universitet Association between in vivo bone formation and ex vivo migratory capacity of human bone marrow stromal cells

Introduction: There is a clinical need for developing systemic transplantation protocols for use of human skeletal stem cells (also known bone marrow stromal stem cells) (hBMSC) in tissue regeneration. In systemic transplantation studies, only a limited number of hBMSC home to injured tissues suggesting that only a subpopulation of hBMSC possesses “homing” capacity. Thus, we tested the hypothesis that a subpopulation of hBMSC defined by ability to form heterotopic bone in vivo, is capable of homing to injured bone. Methods: We tested ex vivo and in vivo homing capacity of a number of clonal cell populations derived from telomerized hBMSC (hBMSC-TERT) with variable ability to form heterotopic bone when implanted subcutaneously in immune deficient mice. In vitro transwell migration assay was used and the in vivo homing ability of transplanted hBMSC to bone fractures in mice was visualized by bioluminescence imaging (BLI). In order to identify the molecular phenotype associated with enhanced migration, we carried out comparative DNA microarray analysis of gene expression of hBMSC-derived high bone forming (HBF) clones versus low bone forming (LBF) clones. Results: HBF clones were exhibited higher ex vivo transwell migration and following intravenous injection, better in vivo homing ability to bone fracture when compared to LBF clones. Comparative microarray analysis of HBF versus LBF clones identified enrichment of gene categories of chemo-attraction, adhesion and migration associated genes. Among these, platelet-derived growth factor receptor (PDGFR) α and β were highly expressed in HBF clones. Follow up studies showed that the chemoattractant effects of PDGF in vitro was more enhanced in HBF compared to LBF clones and this effect was reduced in presence of a PDGFRβ-specific inhibitor: SU-16 f. Also, PDGF exerted greater chemoattractant effect on PDGFRβ cells sorted from LBF clones compared to PDGFRβ cells. Conclusion: Our data demonstrate phenotypic and molecular association between in vivo bone forming ability and migratory capacity of hBMSC. PDGFRβ can be used as a potential marker for the prospective selection of hBMSC populations with high migration and bone formation capacities suitable for clinical trials for enhancing bone regeneration. * Correspondence: babdallah@health.sdu. dk Equal contributors Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, University Hospital of Odense, Odense, Denmark Faculty of Science, Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © 2015 Andersen et al. Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. Andersen et al. Stem Cell Research & Therapy (2015) 6:196 DOI 10.1186/s13287-015-0188-9