Allogeneic stem cell transplantation has achieved great progress in hematology, and provided possibility to cure malignant hematological diseases. Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is a significant complication after transplantation with a mortality of over 30%. In clinical practice we noticed that the successful implantation and the severity of GVHD were associated with T cell ratio of graft to receptor after pretreatment. This study was to set up rat allo-stem cell transplantation model, and explore effects of different T cell ratios of graft to receptor on severity of GVHD.

To study the expression of hHSF in E. coli and its effect on the mobilization of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells.

To explore the relationship between evolution of karyotype and clinical progress in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and estimate the clinical outcomes of high risk patients received allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT).

To study the characteristics of cell cycle and proliferation of CD34+ hematopoietic stem cells in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS).

To investigate the markers of retinal progenitor cells and their spatio-temporal characteristics during retinal development of rat.

Allogeneic bone marrow transplantation has been established as a standard method for the treatment of a range of malignant and non-malignant hematologic diseases in children. Unfortunately, fewer than 30% of patients have a human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-matched sibling. Advances in our understanding of the HLA system and the development of large international donor registries encourage the increasing use of unrelated donors as an alternative source of stem cells. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of unrelated donor allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (URD-BMT) for the treatment of childhood leukemia.

Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are derived from totipotent cells of early embryo and they are potential to differentiate to any kind of cells of tissues in the body. Some reports showed that ESCs had broad capabilities of differentiating to variety of hematopotietic cells, such as erythroid, granulocyte/macrophage, megakaryocyte, mast and lymphocyte precursors. However, it is very difficult to control the phase of differentiation for ESCs in vitro. There is few report about hematopotietic stem cells (HSCs) from ESCs. Therefore, this research was designed to establish a culture system for generation of CD(34)(+)/Sca-1(+) HSC from ESC in vitro.

A variety of immuno-deficient animal models has been used in the detection of human hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells and up to date make many remarkable contribution to the study of detectron cell biology. An ideal immuno-deficient animal should not only have complete immune defects, be able to transplant human hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells with high efficacy, but also survive long enough for observation. In this review, the development of immuno-deficient mice from nude, SCID, to NOD/SCID etc is introduced and much attention is put on the features, priority and shortcomings of those key animal models and their application in HSC research. The progress, the future directions and prospects of these immuno-deficient mice models are stressed.

The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical feasibility of adult stem cell transplantation for lethal mono-gene inherited disease, Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). A total of 30 blood samples from DMD patients were genotyped with HLA-A,-B and -DR alleles by means of polymerase chain reaction-reverse sequence specific oligonucleotide (PCR-RSSO). The HLA gene types in 30 DMD patients were compared with those of 668 unrelated donors from Umbilical Cord Blood Center of Guangdong Province and 34 910 unrelated donors from Chinese Bone Marrow Bank. The results showed that HLA gene of the DMD group was inherited in normal distribution. There was no striking difference of HLA-A, -B and -DR alleles expression between the DMD patients group and control healthy group. 25% of the DMD patients got suitable donors for stem cell transplantation, in which 15 patients found donors with >or= 5/6 HLA match at the Umbilical Cord Blood Center of Guangdong Province, i.e. occupying 50% of the total. Eight patients got 6/6 HLA matching donors at the Chinese Bone Marrow Bank, i.e. occupying 26% of the total. It is concluded that stem cells transplantation therapy for DMD patients is feasible, which will benefit these patients suffered from the lethal neuromuscular disease, and create a new way to treat this tough nervous system disease.

The objective was to explore the feasibility of differentiation of human umbilical cord blood mononuclear cells into endothelial cells induced by cytokines in vitro and to study the possibility of using cord blood stem cells in ischemic diseases therapy. The cells were isolated from umbilical cord blood by using lymphocyte separation solution, and committedly differentiated by using VEGF, bFGF and IGF-I in a liquid culture system. The results showed that the combination of cytokines produced a large number of caudated adherent cells and flow cytometric analysis revealed endothelial marker vWF expressed in about 80% cells, and the endothelial -specific Weibel-Palade body was detected in the cytoplasm by electronic microscope. It is concluded that human umbilical cord blood mononuclear cells may be induced to differentiate into endothelial cells induced by VEGF, bFGF and IGF-I. Human umbilical cord blood MNC may be an ideal source of adult stem cells for the treatment of the ischemic disease.

This study was aimed to observe the efficacy and side effects of allogeneic peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (Allo-PBSCT) in patients with leukemia. The donors were siblings matched with t HLA-A, B, DR loci of recipient. After mobilization with 250 microg/day rhG-CSF for 5 days, peripheral blood stem cells were collected 1 to 2 times. 4 patients with leukemia received 6.78 x 10(8)/kg +/- 1.96 x 10(8)/kg (5 x 10(8)/kg-8.67 x 10(8)/kg) peripheral blood mononuclear cells, which contained 15.02 x 10(6)/kg +/- 8.93 x 10(6)/kg (5.3 x 10(6)/kg-24.23 x 10(6)/kg) CD34(+) cells after modified Bu/Cy conditioning regimen and MTX + CsA + MMF were given for prophylaxis of aGVHD. The results showed that the leukocyte was reduced to the lowest at pretransplantation 2 days-posttransplantation 2 days. Neutrophil amount >0.5 x 10(9)/L was found at 11 - 17 day after transplantation, platelet >50 x 10(9)/L-at 11 - 55 days after transplantation. Out of 4 patients, aGVHD, cGVHD and infection took place in 2,2 and 2 cases, respectively. Bone marrow displayed hematopoietic recovery at 28 day after transplantation, examination of STR in DNA revealed proliferation of donor cells in patients. In conclusion, Allo-PBSCT in combination with modified Bu/Cy conditioning regimen and MTX + CsA + MMF prophylaxis of aGVHD is safety and reliable for treatment of leukemia.

This study was aimed to investigate the expressions of adhesion molecules such as CD54, CD49d and CD62L by CD34(+) cells sampled from different stages of bone marrow (BM) and peripheral blood (PB) before/after G-CSF mobilization and after transplantation through the direct labeling with three colour-immunofluorescence and flow cytometry, and to explore the differences in expression of adhesion molecules on CD34(+) cells from different origins and their clinical significance. Mononuclear cells collected from BM and PB before mobilization, after collection of stem cells and hematopoietic recostruction of BM at the end of transplantation were marked with CD54-FITC, CD49d-FITC and CD62L-FITC separately, as well as CD34-PE and CD45PerCE. 3-color fluorescene analysis was carried out by FACS. The expression differences of CD34(+) and adhesion molecules between BM and APBSC were compared. The results showed that expression differences of CD54, CD49d and cd62Lon CD34(+) cells belore mobilization, after collection and reconstraction of transplantation were not statiscally significant, the difference of CD54, CD49d and CD62L on CD34(+) between 1st and 2nd collections of hematopoietic stem cells also were not statiscally significant. In the collected APBSC, the expression level of CD34(+) CD49d(+) was significantly lower than those in BM before mobilization (P = 0.001). It is concluded that the method of chemotherapy combined with G-CSF mobilization can down-regulate CD49d expression in BM CD34(+) cells, thus can mobilize and move theirs into peripheral blood. After the reconstitution by transplantation, the expression of CD49d on CD34(+) cells tends to normal, the clinical significance needs to be elucidated by accumulation of much more cases.

This study was aimed to investigate various factors influening erythrocyte recovery following ABO-incompatible allogeneic HSCT. 157 patients following ABO-incompatible allogeneic HSCT were selected for the investigation. Cox regression analysis were used to identify the statistically significant factors including sex, age, schemes of transplantation, HLA-matched, mismathed, conditioning regimens, preventive measures for GVHD, occurrence of grade I-II GVHD, CMV infections and types of incompatible blood group. The results showed that minor ABO-incompatible, number of mononuclear cells infused, age of patients and unrelated BMT were four important main factors influening the erythrocyte recovery. In conclusion, the erythrocyte recovery is more quick in patients with minor ABO-incompatible and more number of mononuclear cells infused, while it is slow in patents with old age and unrelated BMT.

The objective of this study was to explore the effect of culture system from embryonic fibroblasts and leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) on expansion of mouse bone marrow hematopoietic progenitor cells ex vivo, and to observe its effect on the expression of homing-related cell adhesion molecules among VLA-4 (CD49e), VLA-5 (CD49e), LFA-1 (CD11a), HCAM (CD44) and L-selectin (CD62L). The culture system from the mouse embryonic fibroblasts inactivatd by mitomycin C and contained LIF was used to culture with mouse BMMNC for 7 days. The total number of BMMNC, CFC, Sca-1(+) cells, cell apoptosis rate and the expression of above cell adhesion molecules were counted. The results showed that culture system consisted of embryonic fibroblasts and LIF significantly enhanced the total number of BMMNC, CFC, Sca-1(+) cells, suppressed cell apoptosis (P < 0.05). In control without MEF and LIF, the total number of BMMNC was reduced remarkedly, CFC and Sca-1(+) cells were completely dead, the majority of cells produced apoptosis (P < 0.01). The expression of CD49d, Cd44 and CD61L on Sca-1(+) cells were similar to that befor expression (P < 0.05), but the expression of CD49e and CD11a on Sca-1(+) cells were remarkably increased (P < 0.05). It is concluded that culture system from embryonic fibroblasts and LIF can only significantly expand mouse bone marrow hematopoietic progenitor cells ex vivo, but the expanded hematopoietic progenitor may well sustain the expression of homing-related adhesion molecules. The homing functions of these expanded hematopoietic progenitors kept no change.

The aim was to study the protective effects of amifostine (AMF) on normal hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells against the chemotherapeutic damage from etoposide (VP-16). The cord blood mononuclear cells (CBMNC), fresh and frozen peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC), and HL-60 cells were divided into AMF, AMF + VP-16, VP-16 and control groups, each group cell viability was determined by using trypan blue exclusion test, the CFU-GM culture was used to count cells, the apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry. The results showed that in CBMNC, fresh and frozen PBSC samples, cell viability and the number of CFU-GM in AMF + VP-16 group were all significantly higher than those in VP-16 group (P < 0.05); the CFU-GM incidence in AMF + VP-16 group was higher than that in VP-16 group, and the GFU-GM life in AMF + VP-16 group was also longer than that of latter, in CBMNC samples, the number of CFU-GM in AMF groups was higher than that in control group, but there was no statistical significance between the two groups (P > 0.05), in HL-60 cell apoptotic rate in AMF + VP-16 group was little higher than that in VP-16 group, but no statistical significance between these two groups (P > 0.05). It is concluded that AMF can significantly protect normal hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells against the damage from VP-16. Moreover, AMF does not affect cytotoxity of VP-16 on HL-60 cells, and can not stimulate the growth and differentiation of cord hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells directly.

In order to find a method suitable for purifying large amount of CD34(+) cells, from 5 cases who accepted autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation, CD34(+) cells were collected and enriched by using Isolex 300i (Nexell). Phenotypes were detected by flow cytometry and the biological viability were assayed by the colony-forming experiments and cell expansion experiment in vitro. The results showed that the number of mononuclear cells first collected was about (3.5 - 6.0) x 10(10) and (0.55 - 1.2)% of cells were CD34 positive. The number of positive production was about (2.0 - 3.0) x 10(8); the CD34(+) cells purity was (75 - 85)% and the yield was (40 - 65)%. The CD34(+) cells of positive production could expand up to 2 - 3 times when cultured with SCF + IL3 + FL + TPO + EPO in vitro. The results of colony-forming experiments demonstrated that the CD34(+) cells collected has enough colony-forming ability. All results showed the enriched CD34(+) cells with biological viability. In conclusion, the CD34(+) immunomagnetic isolation apparatus Isolex300i is suitable to clinical application for a large amount of CD34(+) cell enrichment.

Human CD34(+) hematopoietic cells, a distinctive cell population containing hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPC), have the capability to highly self-renewal, differentiation into all lineages of committed progenitor cells and reconstitution of both long-term hematopoiesis and immunefunctions after transplantation. CD34(+) hematopoietic cells from bone marrow (BM) recently have been employed for treating neoplastic and genetic disorders. This study was aimed to investigate membrane surface ultrastructures of bone marrow CD34(+) cell from mormal persons and leukemia patients and to compare their morphologic differences by using atomic force microscope (AFM). BM was collected from 5 normal donors and 6 leukaemia patients. All samples were layered on Ficoll-Paque gradients (specific gravity 1.077 g/ml) to separate the mononuclear cells. After that CD34(+) cells were purified by immuno-magnetic bead separation and evaluated with a FACS Calibur, these cells were detected by AFM of tapping mode inair. At lest 20 cells per samples were observed. The results showed that most of CD34(+) hematopoietic cells were like circle plate, the diameter was 10 - 14 microm. The surface of CD34(+) hematopoietic cell membrane was comparatively complex. The surface of CD34(+) hematopoietic cell membrane appeared as granular, with packed particles. With the region analysis function of IP2.1 software, the region of 2 microm x 2 microm was selected and four parameters of the surface (maximum peak-to-valley distance, average roughness, root-mean-squared roughness and mean height) were measured. Values of the 4 parameters showed that the characteristic parameters of CD34(+) HSPC from leukaemia were higher than that from normal person. It is concluded that AFM has specific advantages in analyzing cell membrane in the nanometer level and can gain more information. With the help of analysis software, AFM can be a helpful tool for fast leukaemic diagnosis and CD34(+) hematopoietic cells selection.