Biomaterial surfaces for the isolation of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells

Abstract

Enrichment and purification of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) is important in basic research as well as in clinical transplantation of HSPCs. Currently, fluorescent-activated cell sorting (FACS) and immunomagnetic separation techniques are widely used for HSPC isolation. Although both methods offer relatively pure subpopulations, FACS can introduce potential sources of contamination and flow cytometers with high-speed sorting ability are prohibitively expensive for smaller laboratories. Immunomagnetic separation requires large amounts of starting material, involves several steps, and furthermore, cell-surface antibodies may prohibit cell proliferation and differentiation. Hence, development of simpler methods for the capture and purification of HSPCs are warranted. Byexploiting the differential rolling behavior of CD34+ HSPCs from mature blood cells on selectins, we have developed a flow-based, adhesion molecule-mediated capture method, which may be a viable alternative approach to the isolation of HSPCs.