Erythropoietic Progenitor and Precursor Cells
Erythropoietic progenitor and precursor cells give rise to oxygen-carrying red blood cells.
Preferred Cell Systems™ has developed tools to detect and measure 3 different types of erythropoietic cells from different tissues and species.
Proliferating erythropoietic precursor cells are similar to the first morphologically identifiable erythroblasts or pronormoblasts. These were the first erythropoietic precursor cells to be detected in vitro. Using the traditional methylcellulose, colony-forming cell (CFC) or colony-forming unit (CFU) assay, these cells are designated Colony-Forming Unit - Erythroid or CFU-E and usually have very limited proliferation ability (about 5-6 divisions). The CFU-E require low levels of erythropoietin (EPO) to not only stimulate division of the cells, but also to maintain them.
More primitive in vitro progenitor cells have a considerable capacity for proliferation. In methylcellulose cultures, they can produce colonies containing bright red blood cells, an indication that the cells have hemoglobinized. These primitive erythropoietic progenitor cells, grown as colonies in methylcellulose, are called Burst-Forming Units - Erythroid or BFU-E. The ability of the BFU-E to differentiate and mature in culture allows the identity of the mature colonies to be identified.
However, to measure BFU-E proliferation potential and ability, methylcellulose assays cannot be used. Instead, Preferred Cell Systems™ has developed in vitro, erythropoietic expansion reagents and assays that incorporate an advanced culture system called Suspension Expansion Culture™ (SEC™) Technology that allows proliferation and many aspects of the erythropoietic system to be analyzed.
SEC™ Technology has been incorporated into the most advanced and, in many cases, standardized and validated, instrument-based systems available to detect the most primitive erythropoietic progenitor cells. These assays have also been designed so that they can be combined with other readouts, such for phenotypic identification by flow cytometry and genetic analysis to obtain as much information as possible from a single sample.
Preferred Cell Systems™ distinguishes between erythropoietic progenitor cells, cultured using SEC™ Technology, and those grown in methylcellulose. All erythropoietic progenitor cells using SEC™ technology are designed with the prefix "P" for "Progenitor".
In the table below, you will find all the erythropoietic populations developed by Preferred Cell Systems™ that can be detected using either a SEC™-based or a methylcellulose assay. These are:
- CellExpand = Flexible readout of cell expansion
- HALO = Bioluminescence readout with standardization included
- HemoGLO™ = Bioluminescence readout with optional standardization
- HemoFLUOR = Fluorescence readout
- HemoLIGHT = Absorbance/colorimetric readout
- ColonyGro & CAMEO-4 = Manual or automated colony counting
- CAMEO-96 = Manual or automated colony counting following by bioluminescence measurement
- Use or application goal (research, cellular therapy or toxicity testing).
- Whether you need to measure proliferation, differentiation or both.
- Cell type being detected.
- Instrumentation available.
- Other factors such as accuracy, sensitivity, precision etc.
| SEC™ Erythropoietic Progenitor |
Use / Application | SEC™ Assay / Reagent |
CFC Erythropoietic Cell |
CFC Assay | Growth Factor Cocktail | Primitiveness / Maturity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P-BFU 1 | Research/ CellularTherapy |
CellExpand |
NA | NA | EPO, IL-3, SCF | Stem cell induction into primitive erythropoietic |
| P-BFU 1 | Research | CellExpand HALO HemoGLO HemoFLUOR HemoLIGHT |
BFU-E 1 | ColonyGro CAMEO-4 CAMEO-96 |
EPO, IL-3, SCF | Stem cell induction into primitive erythropoietic |
| P-BFU 1 | Cellular Therapy | CellExpand HALO TE HemoGLO TE HemoFLUOR TE HemoLIGHT TE HALO PMT HemoGLO PMT HemoFLUOR PMT HemoLIGHT PMT |
BFU-E 1 | ColonyGro CAMEO-4 CAMEO-96 |
EPO, IL-3, SCF | Stem cell induction into primitive erythropoietic |
| P-BFU 1 | In Vitro Toxicity | HALO-Tox HT | BFU-E 1 | ColonyGro CAMEO-4 CAMEO-96 |
EPO, IL-3, SCF | Stem cell induction into primitive erythropoietic |
| P-BFU 2 | Research | CellExpand HALO HemoGLO HemoFLUOR HemoLIGHT |
BFU-E 2 | ColonyGro CAMEO-4 |
EPO (high dose) | Erythropoietic compartment stimulation |
| Pr-E | Research | NA | CFU-E | ColonyGro CAMEO-4 |
EPO (low dose) | Mature erythropoietic precursor |
| All populations | Base growth medium | HemoGro |
Comments
Note: Both BFU-E 1 and BFU-E 2 can be used to detect CFU-E
Abbreviations
NA = Not available
SEC™ = Suspension Expansion Culture™ Technology
P = Progenitor
Pr = Precursor
CFC = Colony-Forming Cell
IL-3 = Interleukin-3
EPO = Erythropoietin
SCF = Stem Cell Factor