Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) have been characterized as an important component of the hematopoietic niche that plays a role in regulating hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) quiescence, self-renewal, and lineage commitment. | Turkish Journal of Biology Turk J Biol (2016) 40: 473-483 © TÜBİTAK doi: Research Article The Sca-1+ mesenchymal stromal cells modulate macrophage commitment and function 1 2 3 4 5 1 Yaozhen CHEN , Yan CHEN , Dandan YIN , Yazhou WANG , Zheng LIU , Ning AN , 1 1 1 1, 1 1 Fan WEN , Na LI , Jiajia XIN , Xingbin HU *, Hui-Jie ZHANG , Wen YIN 1 Department of Transfusion Medicine, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’an, China 2 Department of Pathology, Third Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China 3 Department of Hematology, Tangdu Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’an, China 4 Institute of Neurosciences, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’an, China 5 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA Received: Accepted/Published Online: Final Version: Abstract: Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) have been characterized as an important component of the hematopoietic niche that plays a role in regulating hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) quiescence, self-renewal, and lineage commitment. Macrophages, one kind of innate immune cells, are mainly developed from HSCs in niche. However, how MSCs and their subpopulations regulate macrophage commitment is still unknown. The current study compared the contribution of MSCs and Sca-1+MSCs to macrophage commitment and further modulation on the function of macrophages. We found that Sca-1+MSCs could promote macrophage commitment through the M-CSFR gene, and Sca-1+MSCs led macrophage polarization towards the M2 phenotype. Further functional studies indicated that Sca1+MSCs could remarkably promote the phagocytosis capability of macrophages instead of their antigen-presentation ability. These data demonstrated that Sca-1+MSCs could regulate the commitment and function of macrophages from hematopoietic progenitors, which provided new evidence
