Meeting report: the next interleukin?

A report of the meeting "Third International Conference on Osteopontin and Related Proteins", San Antonio, TX, USA, 10 to 12 May 2002. At a recent meeting, the structure and biology of the cytokine osteopontin were discussed. The molecule is essential for cellular immune responses and for the remodeling of cardiovasculature and bone.

Fetal cell isolation from maternal blood cultures by flow cytometric hemoglobin profiles. Results of a preliminary clinical trial.

Objective: We conducted a trial to test if the blood of pregnant women contains fetal clonogenic erythroid cells the progeny of which can be identified and isolated by a newly developed flow-sorting procedure.

Methods: We have previously demonstrated the identification of fetal nucleated red cells in cocultures of fetal and adult blood. The procedure is based on profiles of the correlated contents of fetal and adult hemoglobin (HbF and HbA, respectively), using antibodies specific for the different hemoglobin chains.

The metastasis gene osteopontin: a candidate target for cancer therapy.

Malignant tumors are characterized by dysregulated growth control, overcoming of replicative senescence, and metastasis formation. Current therapeutic regimens mostly exert their effects through inhibition of cell cycle progression, leaving two major components of transformation untouched. The cytokine osteopontin is essential for the dissemination of various cancers.

High-sensitivity C-reactive protein and atherosclerosis: from theory to therapy.

Atherosclerosis remains the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Western countries. Recent evidence has demonstrated that atherosclerosis is not simply a disease of lipid deposition. Inflammation plays a major role in the initiation, progression, and destabilization of atheromas.

Differential effects of interleukin-3 on fetal and adult erythroid cells in culture: implications for the isolation of fetal cells from maternal blood.

Fetal clonogenic erythroid cells may be present in maternal blood and serve as a source of fetal DNA for prenatal genetic diagnosis. Proliferating nucleated red cells in cultures from first and second trimester fetal blood contain only fetal haemoglobin (HbF; F+A- cells), whereas nucleated red cells from adult blood contain also adult haemoglobin (HbA; F+A+ or F-A+ cells). Thus, fetal red cells can be identified and flow sorted.

Selectively increased growth of fetal hemoglobin-expressing adult erythroid progenitors after brief treatment of early progenitors with transforming growth factor beta.

We have studied the effect of transforming growth factor beta (TGFbeta) on erythropoiesis in cultures from adult peripheral blood, using flow cytometric enumeration of fetal hemoglobin (HbF)-containing cells. TGFbeta caused a dramatic increase in the proportions of cells that accumulated HbF together with adult hemoglobin (HbA) (F+A+ cells). This highly significant (P <.

Identification of fetal nucleated red cells in co-cultures from fetal and adult peripheral blood: differential effects of serum on fetal and adult erythropoiesis.

Seeking to optimize a novel method of isolating rare fetal erythroid cells in cultures from maternal blood, we have explored the effects of serum supplement on fetal and adult erythropoiesis. We used flow cytometry and sorting after labelling with antibodies to fetal haemoglobin (HbF) and adult haemoglobin (HbA). In adult blood-derived cultures, most nucleated red cells accumulated either only adult haemoglobin (F-A+) or a combination of fetal and adult haemoglobin (F+A+).

Differential development of fetal and adult haemoglobin profiles in colony culture: isolation of fetal nucleated red cells by two-colour fluorescence labelling.

Fetal cells in maternal peripheral blood are a source of fetal DNA for prenatal genetic diagnosis, but their numbers are so small and variable that a reliable isolation procedure has yet to be demonstrated. The problem of scarcity may be overcome by amplification of fetal progenitor cells in cultures from maternal blood samples. One challenge is to identify post-culture fetal cells and colonies.