Three-dimensional co-culture of mesenchymal stromal cells and differentiated osteoblasts on human bio-derived bone scaffolds supports active multi-lineage hematopoiesis in vitro: Functional implication of the biomimetic HSC niche

Recent studies have indicated that the hematopoietic stem/progenitor cell (HSPC) niche, consisting of two major crucial components, namely osteoblasts (OBs) and mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs), is responsible for the fate of HSPCs. Thus, closely mimicking the HSPC niche ex vivo may be an efficient strategy with which to develop new culture strategies to specifically regulate the balance between HSPC self-renewal and proliferation. The aim of this study was to establish a novel HSPC three-dimensional culture system by co-culturing bone marrow-derived MSCs and OBs differentiated from MSCs without any cytokines as feeder cells and applying bio-derived bone from human femoral metaphyseal portion as the scaffold. Scanning electron microscopy revealed the excellent biocompatibility of bio-derived bone with bone marrow-derived MSCs and OBs differentiated from MSCs. Western blot analysis revealed that many cytokines, which play key roles in HSPC regulation, were comprehensively secreted, while ELISA revealed that extracellular matrix molecules were also highly expressed. Hoechst 33342/propidium iodide fluorescence staining proved that our system could be used to supply a long-term culture of HSPCs. Flow cytometric analysis and qPCR of p21 expression demonstrated that our system significantly promoted the self-renewal and ex vivo expansion of HSPCs. Colony-forming unit (CFU) and long-term culture-initiating cell (LTC-IC) assays confirmed that our system has the ability for both the expansion of CD34+ hematopoietic stem cells (HPCs) and the maintenance of a primitive cell subpopulation of HSCs. The severe-combined immunodeficient mouse repopulating cell assay revealed the promoting effects of our system on the expansion of long-term primitive transplantable HSCs. In conclusion, our system may be a more comprehensive and balanced system which not only promotes the self-renewal and ex vivo expansion of HSPCs, but also maintains primitive HPCs with superior phenotypic and functional attributes.