Immunohistochemical toolkit for tracking and quantifying xenotransplanted human stem cells. (July 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Allard, Justine; Li, Ké; Lopez, Xavier Moles; Blanchard, Stéphane; Barbot, Paul; Rorive, Sandrine; Decaestecker, Christine; Pochet, Roland; Bohl, Delphine; Lepore, Angelo C; Salmon, Isabelle; Nicaise, Charles
• Is Part Of: Regenerative medicine. Volume 9:Number 4(2014)
• Page Start: 437
• Page End: 452
• Publication Date: 2014-07
• Subjects: cell therapy -- human-specific biomarker -- image quantification -- stem cells -- xenotransplantation; Cellular therapy -- Periodicals; Stem cells -- Transplantation -- Periodicals; Degeneration (Pathology) -- Treatment -- Periodicals; Regeneration (Biology) -- Periodicals; 611.018
• DOI: 10.2217/rme.14.26
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1746-0751

Abstract

Aim: Biomarker-based tracking of human stem cells xenotransplanted into animal models is crucial for studying their fate in the field of cell therapy or tumor xenografting.Materials & methods: Using immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization, we analyzed the expression of three human-specific biomarkers: Ku80, human mitochondria (hMito) and Alu.Results : We showed that Ku80, hMito and Alu biomarkers are broadly expressed in human tissues with no or low cross-reactivity toward rat, mouse or pig tissues. In vitro, we demonstrated that their expression is stable over time and does not change along the differentiation of human-derived induced pluripotent stem cells or human glial-restricted precursors. We tracked in vivo these cell populations after transplantation in rodent spinal cords using aforementioned biomarkers and human-specific antibodies detecting apoptotic, proliferating or neural-committed cells.Conclusion: This study assesses the human-species specificity of Ku80, hMito and Alu, and proposes useful biomarkers for characterizing human stem cells in xenotransplantation paradigms.