in vitro induction of fetal hemoglobin in erythroid cells derived from cd133 cells by transforming growth factor-b and stem cell factor

increased fetal hemoglobin (hbf) in b-globin gene disorders ameliorates the clinical symptoms of the underlying disease. 5-azacytidine, butyrate and hydroxyurea, have been shown to activate g-globin gene expression. it has also been found that hematopoietic growth factors can influence expression of g-globin in erythroid cultures and in animal models. this study was designed to evaluate the in vitro effects of the stem cell factor (scf) and transforming growth factor-b (tgf-b) on g-globin gene reactivation of erythroid precursors derived from cd133+ cells in vitro. reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (rt-pcr) analysis showed increased expression of the g-globin transcript in cell culture groups containing either tgf- b or scf or both as compared to control (2.2-, 2.7- and 5.5-fold, respectively) (p