Isolation of hemopoietic precursor cells from human marrow by negative selection using monoclonal antibodies and...

A purified or enriched population of human marrow hemopoietic precursor cells may be produced by using a monoclonal antibody to specifically bind to the desired cell population (positive selection), or by removing undesired cell populations contaminating the mixture (negative selection). We describe a simple negative selection technique using commercially available monoclonal antibodies and immunomagnetic beads to produce a mononuclear marrow cell fraction which comprises no more than 2% of the initial cell population yet contains all the BFU-E and CFU-GM present originally. This procedure is an efficient method for producing hemopoietic precursor cells appropriate for studying cell-substrate adhesions, homing mechanisms, and response to growth factors without interference by contaminating accessory cells.