Differentiation Profiling of Marrow Stem Cells: A Megakaryocytic Hotspot and the Continuum Model of Hematopoiesis
Authors: Colvin Gerald A. , Liu Liansheng , Dooner Mark , Dooner Gerri , Johnson Kevin , Papa Elaine , Aliotta Jason M , Berz David , Quesenberry Peter J. 
Published: April 2020

Directed differentiation is defined as the ability to program a stem cell at the most primitive level while it still has its reproductive and full proliferative potential in contrast to ex-vivo expansion where the stem cells are forced into specific lineage commitments, limiting the overall therapeutic utility. Standard hierarchical models of hematopoiesis suppose an ordered system in which stem cells and progenitors with specific fixed differentiation potentials exist. We show here that the potential of marrow stem cells to differentiate changes reversibly with cytokine-induced cell cycle transit. This along with other data strongly suggest that stem cell regulation is not based on the classic hierarchical model, but instead more on a functional continuum and believe that sensitivity to cytokines change as a stem/progenitor cells goes through cell cycle transit. We previously have shown that stem cells reversibly shift their engraftment phenotype with cytokine induced cell cycle transit. Further work has shown that adhesion protein, cytokine receptor, gene expression and progenitor phenotypes also shift. Evolving data indicate the phenotype of murine marrow stem cells reversible change with cell cycle transit. Murine experiments have been performed on highly purified quiescent G0–1 lineagenegativerhodaminelowHoeschtlow (LRH) marrow stem cells. When exposed to thrombopoietin, FLT3-ligand and steel factor, they synchronously pass through cell cycle as measured by propidium iodide, cell doublings and tritiated thymidine. LRH cells enter S-phase in a synchronized fashion by 18 hours, leave S-phase at 40–42 hours and divide between 44–48 hours. The capacity of these cells to respond to a differentiation inductive signal (granulocyte colony-stimulating factor, granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor and steel factor) is altered at different points in cell cycle. We have demonstrated differentiation hotspots on a cell cycle continuum (Exp Heme35:96, 2007). In this work we showed marked but reversible increases in differentiation potential to megakryocyte and granulocytes at different phases of a single cytokine induced cell cycle passage of highly purified quiescent murine LRH marrow stem cells. We have reproducibly induced directed stem cell differentiation by capitalizing on inherent changes in sensitivities to inductive cytokine signals in the context of cell cycle position. We have found that using a differentiation cytokine cocktail of G-CSF at 0.075ng/ml, GM-CSF at 0.0375ng/ml and steel factor at 50ng/ml, we were able to see enhanced megakaryopoiesis occurring 14-days after culture in those LRH stem cells that were in early to mid S-phase at time of inductive signaling. We have now shown that a megakaryocyte hotspot clusters around giving an inductive signal after 32-hours in primary culture; the G1/S interface, and that dramatic reversible changes in differentiation potential occur over half hour time intervals. We have confirmed this data by looking at LRH cells through cell cycle transit after initial cell division showing that a megakaryocyte hotspot occurs in two sequential cell cycles and still tied to S-phase at time of inductive signaling of the daughter cells. This hotspot has been demonstrated on a clonal basis, although the kinetics of the hotspot shifts when clonal as opposed to population studies are carried out. An important issue is whether in vitro cytokine exposure, separate from cell cycle status, determines the existence of the hotspot. To address this, we used Hoechst 33342 dye content to assist in separation of different cell cycle fractions (G0–1, early, mid and late components of S, G2/M) of lineage negative Sca-1+ stem cells, a cycling stem/progenitor cell population in which approximately 20% of the cells are in S-phase at isolation. These cells were only exposed to the differentiation cytokines and showed a megakaryocyte hotspot present in only early S-phase cells after 14-days of culture, showing that in vitro cell cycle phase determined the presence of the hotspot, separate from cytokine exposure. These data indicate that differentiation potential of marrow stem cells exists on a cell cycle related continuum and that this potential can be demonstrated on a single cell basis. Stem cell differentiation hotspots may eventually be utilized to alter repopulation kinetics after bone marrow transplantation improving recovery time of platelets and neutrophils, translating into improved outcomes.