Note: Time-gated 3D single quantum dot tracking with simultaneous spinning disk imaging.

We describe recent upgrades to a 3D tracking microscope to include simultaneous Nipkow spinning disk imaging and time-gated single-particle tracking (SPT). Simultaneous 3D molecular tracking and spinning disk imaging enable the visualization of cellular structures and proteins around a given fluorescently labeled target molecule. The addition of photon time-gating to the SPT hardware improves signal to noise by discriminating against Raman scattering and short-lived fluorescence. In contrast to camera-based SPT, single-photon arrival times are recorded, enabling time-resolved spectroscopy (e.g., measurement of fluorescence lifetimes and photon correlations) to be performed during single molecule/particle tracking experiments.

Anti-inflammatory cytokines hepatocyte growth factor and interleukin-11 are over-expressed in Polycythemia vera and contribute to the growth of clonal erythroblasts independently of JAK2V617F.

The V617F activating mutation of janus kinase 2 (JAK2), a kinase essential for cytokine signalling, characterizes Polycythemia vera (PV), one of the myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN). However, not all MPNs carry mutations of JAK2, and in JAK2-mutated patients, expression of JAK2V617F does not always result in clone expansion. In the present study, we provide evidence that inflammation-linked cytokines are required for the growth of JAK2V617F-mutated erythroid progenitors. In a first series of experiments, we searched for cytokines over-expressed in PV using cytokine antibody (Ab) arrays, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays for analyses of serum and bone marrow (BM) plasma, and quantitative reverse transcription-PCRs for analyses of cells purified from PV patients and controls. We found that PV patients over-expressed anti-inflammatory hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and interleukin-11 (IL-11), BM mesenchymal stromal cells (BMMSCs) and erythroblasts being the main producers. In a second series of experiments, autocrine/paracrine cytokine stimulation of erythroblasts was blocked using neutralizing Abs specific for IL-11 or c-MET, the HGF receptor. The growth of JAK2V617F-mutated HEL cells and PV erythroblasts was inhibited, indicating that JAK2-mutated cells depend on HGF and IL-11 for their growth. Additional experiments showed that transient expression of JAK2V617F in BaF-3/erythropoietin receptor cells, and invalidation of JAK2V617F in HEL cells using anti-JAK2 small interfering RNA, did not affect HGF and IL-11 expression. Thus, anti-inflammatory HGF and IL-11 are upregulated in PV and their overproduction is not a consequence of JAK2V617F. As both cytokines contribute to the proliferation of PV erythroblasts, blocking the c-MET/HGF/IL-11 pathways could be of interest as an additional therapeutic option in PV.