Colony formation of human fetal CD34+ hematopoietic cells

Manipulations to enhance engraftment of donated cells may be advantageous in transplantation of fetal hematopoietic cells (FHC). By assessing the formation of colonies, CD34+ enrichment was evaluated with and without cytokine stimulation (interleukins 3 and 6, stem cell factor, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor). Cord blood cells and bone marrow cells served as controls. In FHC, cytokine stimulation and CD34+ enrichment always enhanced the formation of CFU-GM (colony-forming units--granulocytes, macrophages) and CFU-GEMM (colony-forming units-granulocytes, erythroid cells, macrophages, megakaryocytes). However, BFU-E (burst-forming units--erythroid cells) in FHC remained unchanged after cytokine stimulation and CD34+ enrichment. In FHC, the addition of cytokines and the enrichment of CD34+ cells usually contributed equally to enhance CFU-GM and CFU-GEMM colony formation. CD34-negative FHC produced the same number or more BFU-E and half the number of CFU-GM and CFU-GEMM as compared with crude cells. This CD34-negative cell population also responded to cytokine stimulation. Such findings may indicate that purification of CD34+ cells is not meaningful in fetal transplantation.