The effect of Mesenchymal Stem Cells of Amniotic Membrane on the Proliferation and Differentiation of Umbilical Cord Blood CD34+ cells

Ex vivo proliferation of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) of umbilical cord is widely used by combination of cytokine and stromal mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) as feeder layer due to increase the cell doses, adequately. However, numerous studies have shown that ex vivo proliferation of these cells impairs their functions, including reduced self-renewal ability, apoptosis induction, and disordered cell cycle. MSCs have different sources such as amniotic membrane with a stable karyotype and high quality because of isolation from embryonic tissues, so that they are considered as a useful source for MSCs.

In this study, isolated mesenchymal cells from the amniotic membrane were used as feeders for the HSCs proliferation. Four different cultures with various conditions were used; first one containing cytokines (stem cell factor, thrombopoietin, and FMS-related tyrosine kinase 3 ligand), second one with MSCs co-cultured with the aforementioned cytokines, third medium co-cultured with MSCs without cytokines, and finally the control medium was without co-culture condition and cytokines. Expression of mRNAs of HOXB4, GATA2, BCL2, and Survivin genes was also investigated.

The findings showed that the expression of mRNAs of these genes decreased in culture with cytokine, solely; however the expression of these genes was significantly higher in co-cultured system with cytokine rather than just with cytokine.

 In general, the findings of this study indicate that the derived MSCs from amniotic membrane is a good source for the proliferation of umbilical cord blood CD34+ cells”. Because these cells increase the UCB-CD34+ quantity and their preservation properties.