Gene expression profiling in the inductive human hematopoietic microenvironment.

Human hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and their progenitors can be maintained in vitro in long-term bone marrow cultures (LTBMCs) in which constituent HSCs can persist within the adherent layers for up to 2 months. Media replenishment of LTBMCs has been shown to induce transition of HSCs from a quiescent state to an active cycling state. We hypothesize that the media replenishment of the LTBMCs leads to the activation of important regulatory genes uniquely involved in HSC proliferation and differentiation. To profile the gene expression changes associated with HSC activation, we performed suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) on day 14 human LTBMCs following 1-h media replenishment and on unmanipulated controls. The generated SSH library contained 191 differentially up-regulated expressed sequence tags (ESTs), the majority corresponding to known genes related to various intracellular processes, including signal transduction pathways, protein synthesis, and cell cycle regulation. Nineteen ESTs represented previously undescribed sequences encoding proteins of unknown function. Differential up-regulation of representative genes, including IL-8, IL-1, putative cytokine 21/HC21, MAD3, and a novel EST was confirmed by semi-quantitative RT-PCR. Levels of fibronectin, G-CSF, and stem cell factor also increased in the conditioned media of LTBMCs as assessed by ELISA, indicating increased synthesis and secretion of these factors. Analysis of our library provides insights into some of the immediate early gene changes underlying the mechanisms by which the stromal elements within the LTBMCs contribute to the induction of HSC activation and provides the opportunity to identify as yet unrecognized factors regulating HSC activation in the LTBMC milieu.