Identification of human erythroid lineage-committed progenitors

Elucidating the developmental pathway leading to erythrocytes and being able to isolate their progenitors is crucial to understanding and treating disorders of red cell imbalance such as anemia, myelodysplastic syndrome, and polycythemia vera. Endoglin (CD105) is a key marker for purifying mouse erythroid lineage-committed progenitors (EPs) from bone marrow. Herein, we show that human EPs can also be isolated from adult bone marrow. We identified three subfractions that possessed different expression patterns of CD105 and CD71 within the previously defined human megakaryocyte/erythrocyte progenitor (hMEP; Lineage-CD34(+)CD38(+)IL-3Rα(-)CD45RA(-)) population. Both CD71(-)CD105(-) and CD71(+)CD105(-) MEPs, at least in vitro, retained bipotency for the megakaryocyte (MegK) and erythrocyte (E) lineages, although the latter sub-population had a differentiation potential skewed toward the E-lineage. Notably, the differentiation output of the CD71(+)CD105(+) subset of cells within the MEP population was completely restricted to the E-lineage with the loss of MegK potential; thus, we termed CD71(+)CD105(-) MEPs and CD71(+)CD105(+) cells as E-biased MEPs (E-MEPs) and EPs, respectively. These previously unclassified populations may facilitate understanding of the molecular mechanisms governing human erythroid development and serve as potential therapeutic targets in disorders of the erythroid lineage.