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First published online May 11, 2006
Stem Cells Vol. 24 No. 9 September 2006, pp. 2078 -2084
doi:10.1634/stemcells.2005-0595; www.StemCells.com
© 2006 AlphaMed Press

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TISSUE-SPECIFIC STEM CELLS

Integrins Are Markers of Human Neural Stem Cells

Peter E. Halla,b, Justin D. Lathiaa,b,c, Nigel G. A. Millera, Maeve A. Caldwellb, Charles Ffrench-Constanta,b

aDepartment of Pathology and
bCambridge Centre for Brain Repair, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom;
cLaboratory of Neurosciences, National Institute on Aging, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Key Words. Fluorescence-activated cell sorting • Neurosphere • Prominin • Laminin • Extracellular matrix

Correspondence: Charles ffrench-Constant, FRCP, Ph.D., Department of Pathology, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge CB2 1QP, United Kingdom. Telephone: +44-1223-333723; Fax: +44-1223-333346; e-mail: cfc{at}mole.bio.cam.ac.uk

Received November 28, 2005; accepted for publication May 3, 2006.

   ABSTRACT
Top
 Abstract
Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results and Discussion
 Disclosures
 Acknowledgments
 References
 
The identification of markers for the isolation of human neural stem cells (hNSCs) is essential for studies of their biology and therapeutic applications. This study investigated expression of the integrin receptor family by hNSCs as potential markers. Selection of {alpha}6hi or ß1hi cells by fluorescence-activated cell sorting led to an enrichment of human neural precursors, as shown by both neurosphere forming assays and increased expression of prominin-1, sox2, sox3, nestin, bmi1, and musashi1 in the ß1hi population. Cells expressing high levels of ß1 integrin also expressed prominin-1 (CD133), a marker previously used to isolate hNSCs, and selection using integrin ß1hi cells or prominin-1hi cells was found to be equally effective at enriching for hNSCs from neurospheres. Therefore, integrin subunits {alpha}6 and ß1 are highly expressed by human neural precursors and represent convenient markers for their prospective isolation.


   INTRODUCTION
Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
Materials and Methods
 Results and Discussion
 Disclosures
 Acknowledgments
 References
 
Human neural stem cells (hNSCs) have the ability to form all the major cell types of the central nervous system, making them candidates for cell-based therapies in neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease or multiple sclerosis. However, two factors have hampered the development of clinical applications, such as cell transplants. First, the very limited availability of fetal tissue containing large numbers of hNSCs. Second, the inability to purify these cells from more differentiated types. The first can be overcome by the expansion of primary cells, as human neural stem cells can be maintained in vitro within free-floating aggregates, termed neurospheres. The second factor, however, remains a key problem, especially as neurospheres represent a complex mixture of neural stem cells (NSCs) and more differentiated cell types. Cell markers appropriate for selection strategies are therefore required. The intracellular location of factors enriched in NSCs, including Musashi1, Nestin, and Sox1, has limited their usefulness as prospective markers [1–5]. Attempts have been made to circumvent these problems by using adenoviral constructs with green fluorescent protein under the control of various promoters or enhancers, but the incorporation of adenoviral sequences limits the potential applications of such cells [6]. A more optimal strategy, and one that has allowed the near-homogeneous purification of the hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) [7, 8], would be the identification of cell surface antigens suitable for fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS). Although markers have been defined for the mouse neural stem cell (mNSC), enabling the mNSC to be enriched to 80% [9–11], few markers have been developed for hNSCs.

One method used to identify potential markers is to examine those cell surface receptors likely to be required for stem cell maintenance in vivo. The NSCs are localized to the ventricular and subventricular zone of the developing brain, where specialized areas called niches are responsible for maintaining the multipotency and self-renewal capacity of NSCs [11, 12]. The study of other stem cell niches has allowed the identification of common components, including an extracellular matrix (ECM)-rich basal lamina, that are likely to form part of the hNSC niche [13]. Interactions with the ECM are mediated mainly by cell surface receptors called integrins. Integrins are transmembrane {alpha}ß heterodimers involved in the regulation of proliferation, survival, migration, and differentiation [14]. The expression of high levels of integrin ß1 has been used successfully to enrich human epidermal and rodent neural stem cells from more restricted progenitor populations [15–17]. Recent studies comparing the gene expression profiles of mouse embryonic stem cells, NSCs, and HSCs have found the expression of laminin-binding integrins {alpha}6 and ß1 to be elevated in all three populations [18, 19]. Similarly, integrin {alpha}6 has been found to be a marker for hepatic and spermatogonial stem cells [20–23]. In this study, we therefore asked whether integrins are highly expressed by hNSCs and provide a marker for their isolation.


   MATERIALS AND METHODS
Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
Results and Discussion
 Disclosures
 Acknowledgments
 References
 
Cell Culture
Human fetal tissue (8–10 weeks postconception) was collected in accordance with the arrangements for informed consent recommended by the Polkinghorne Committee [24] and the U.K. Department of Health guidelines [25] and with the approval of the Addenbrooke’s Hospital Medical Research Ethics Committee. The hNSCs from the cortex were propagated as free-floating aggregates (neurospheres), and cellular expansion prior to use in the studies described here was achieved using a passaging method described in detail elsewhere [26]. In brief, fresh tissue was initially dissociated in trypsin and seeded at a density of 200,000 cells per milliliter in a T75 flask containing Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium/Ham’s F-12 medium (3:1; Gibco, Paisley, U.K., http://www.invitrogen.com), supplemented with N2 (1:100; Gibco), epidermal growth factor (EGF), fibroblast growth factor (FGF)-2 (both at 20 ng/ml; R&D Systems Inc., Abingdon, U.K., http://www.rndsystems.com), and heparin (5 µg/ml; Sigma-Aldrich, Poole, U.K., http://www.sigmaaldrich.com). Spheres had grown to a radius of >0.35 mm after 14 days of expansion, and passaging of cells was routinely undertaken at this time point by sectioning spheres into 200-µm sections using a McIlwain tissue chopper, after which they were reseeded into fresh growth medium. Cultures were fed every 4–5 days by replacing half the medium. To induce differentiation, growth factors were withdrawn, and neurospheres were plated on poly(D-lysine) and laminin-1 (10 µg/ml; Sigma-Aldrich)-coated eight-well chamber slides (Nunc, Roskilde, Denmark, http://www.nuncbrand.com) for 7 days prior to immunostaining.

Semiquantitative Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction
Total RNA was extracted from neurospheres using RNeasy minikit (Qiagen, Crawley, U.K., http://www1.qiagen.com) before being treated with RNase-free DNase I (Roche Diagnostics, Lewes, U.K., http://www.roche-applied-science.com) to remove genomic DNA contamination. cDNA was generated from 1 µg of total RNA using a First Strand cDNA Synthesis kit (GE Healthcare Life Sciences, Little Chalfont, U.K., http://www.amersham.com). Each polymerase chain reaction (PCR) consisted of 1/30th reverse transcription reaction, 1x PCR buffer (Qiagen), 0.25 mM each dNTP (GE Healthcare Life Sciences), 2 µM each primer, and 1.25 units of Taq polymerase (Qiagen). PCR mixtures then were denatured at 95°C for 2 minutes before being cycled at 94°C for 1 minute, the annealing temperature for 1 minute, and 72°C for 1 minute. A final extension of 72°C for 10 minutes occurred after cycling. Details of the primer sequences, annealing temperatures, and cycle numbers are provided in supplementary online Table 1. The PCR products were separated by electrophoresis on 2.5% agarose gels.

Immunohistochemistry
Neurospheres were fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde for 1 hour at room temperature before being washed with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) and placed in 25% sucrose overnight at 4°C. Spheres were then cut into 14-µm sections using a Leica CM3000 cryostat (Leica, Milton Keynes, U.K., http://www.leica.co.uk). Sections were treated with 10% normal goat serum (DakoCytomation, Ely, U.K., http://www.dakocytomation.co.uk) and 0.2% Triton X-100 in PBS for 1 hour at room temperature, before being incubated with anti-nestin (1:500; a kind gift from Dr. H. Okano, Tokyo, Japan) or anti-ß1 integrin (1:200; clone P5D2; Chemicon, Chandlers Ford, U.K., http://www.chemicon.com) overnight at 4°C. Subsequently, the sections were incubated with the appropriate Alexa Fluor-conjugated secondary antibody (Molecular Probes Inc., Leiden, The Netherlands, http://www.probes.invitrogen.com), diluted 1:200 in Hoechst 33258, for 2 hours at room temperature. Sections were viewed under a Zeiss Axioplan fluorescence microscope (Carl Zeiss, Welwyn Garden City, U.K., http://www.zeiss.co.uk), and images were captured using Openlab software (Improvision, Coventry, U.K., http://www.improvision.co.uk). Differentiated neurospheres were fixed as described above and then labeled with anti-ßIII tubulin (1:500; Tuj1; Sigma-Aldrich) and anti-glial fibrillary acidic protein (1:500; DakoCytomation) followed by appropriate secondary antibodies as described above.

Flow Cytometry and Neurosphere Formation Assay
Neurospheres were dissociated with Accutase (Chemicon) before being resuspended in PBS and stained with antibodies against ß1 integrin (clone TDM29-fluorescein isothiocyanate; Chemicon) or prominin-1 (clone 293C3-phycoerythrin; Miltenyi Biotec, Bisley, U.K., http://www.miltenyibiotec.com) at 4°C for 1 hour. For {alpha}6 integrin staining, cells were incubated with the primary antibody (clone NKI-GoH3; Chemicon) for 1 hour at 4°C before addition of the R-phycoerythrin-conjugated secondary antibody (1:300; Molecular Probes) for 45 minutes at 4°C. All primary antibodies were used at 2 µg/106 cells. Dead cells were excluded by propidium iodide staining (2.5 µg/ml; Sigma-Aldrich), and doublets were identified by the pulse-width parameter. The specificity of each antibody was confirmed by the lack of significant labeling if the fluorochrome-conjugated anti-integrin or anti-CD133 antibody was omitted, as shown in Figures 2E and 4A. The cells were sorted using a MoFlo flow cytometer (DakoCytomation) into 96-well plates (Nunc) at a density of either 250 or 500 live cells per well (750 or 1,500 cells per cm2) or, in the experiments using a limiting dilution assay to determine the frequency of neurosphere-forming cells, progressively decreasing numbers of cells per well. Each well contained 200 µl of neurosphere medium, supplemented with 2% B27 (Gibco) in place of the N2. Cells were fed every 4–5 days by replacing 50% of the medium, and the number of neurospheres formed was counted after 21 days in culture.

Statistical Analysis
For the analysis of expression (PCR or FACS), three fetal brain samples were analyzed, and a representative experiment is shown. For the cell sorting studies, eight experimental replicates were performed for each of at least two fetal brain samples tissues, and data are presented as mean ± SE. All statistics were calculated using Student’s t test, with p < .05 considered significant.


   RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results and Discussion
Disclosures
 Acknowledgments
 References
 
Human neural stem cells, like rodent NSCs, can be maintained in vitro as free-floating aggregates, termed neurospheres. These spheres grow from single cells following dissociation at each passage in culture, and when withdrawn from mitogenic growth factors, each sphere will generate neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes. As such, these single cells have stem cell properties, and currently, the identification of NSCs is predominantly based on assays defining NSCs as neurosphere-initiating cells [27]. To investigate a role of integrins as markers for hNSCs, it was first necessary to define which subunits are expressed. Using a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)-based approach, Figure 1 shows the integrin subunits found to be consistently expressed by human neurospheres, regardless of the growth factors used (EGF, FGF-2, or a combination) or the length of time in culture. The mRNA for {alpha} subunits 1–3, 5–10, and V were expressed in all samples (n = 3), along with ß subunits 1, 5, and 8, whereas integrins ß4 and ß6 were never seen.


Figure 1
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  		Figure 1. Expression of integrin subunits by human neurospheres. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis of mRNA prepared from human neurospheres. The numbers over each lane indicate the specific {alpha} and ß subunits expressed (i.e., 1 is {alpha}1, 2 is {alpha}2, etc.). Note that {alpha}6, {alpha}V, ß1, ß5, and ß8 were detected after only 30 PCR cycles, whereas other subunits required 40 cycles. Also, note that splice variants of {alpha}3 and {alpha}6 are expressed. Size markers are shown in base pairs on the left.

 
In light of the number of integrin subunits that associate with ß1 expressed in human neurospheres by RT-PCR, we next asked whether the ß1 integrin subunit was highly expressed on hNSCs. Three sets of experiments were conducted to examine this. Nestin is an intermediate filament protein that is highly expressed by neural stem cells [4]. First, therefore, cryostat sections of neurospheres were stained for both nestin and ß1 integrin to ask whether the proteins colocalize (Fig. 2A), thus indicating that high levels of ß1 integrin expression are seen in cells expressing an established NSC marker. Interestingly, previous studies have shown that rodent neurospheres have a three-dimensional structure, with the stem cells present toward the edge, whereas differentiated cell types are found in the center of the sphere [16]. In agreement, here we found that ß1 integrin and nestin are more highly expressed at the edge of human neurospheres, showing that human neurospheres also have a distinct three-dimensional architecture and demonstrating that hNSCs do express high levels of ß1 integrin (Fig. 2A).


Figure 2
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  		Figure 2. Integrin ß1 is highly expressed by human neural stem cells. (A): Cryostat section of a human neurosphere stained for Hoechst 33258 (to label nuclei), ß1 integrin, and nestin. A merged image is shown in the lower right panel. Expression of both proteins is colocalized at the edge of the neurosphere. Scale bar = 10 µm. (B): ß1(hi), {alpha}6(hi), and {alpha}6(hi)+ß1(hi) were sorted at 250 live cells into a 96-well plate, and the number of neurospheres forming was quantified 21 days later. "Unsorted" refers to sorting live cells with no gating on ß1 or {alpha}6 expression. Neurosphere formation was significantly increased relative to the unsorted population for all conditions, although no significant additive effect of combining selection for ß1(hi) and {alpha}6(hi) was found. *, p < .05; n = 2. (C): Differentiation of neurons and astrocytes in cultures of the neurospheres grown from ß1hi cells and then plated onto poly(D-lysine)/laminin-1 (10 µg/ml) substrates before the withdrawal of growth factors. Note the presence of glial fibrillary acidic protein+ astrocytes (green) and ßIII-tubulin+ neurons (red). Nuclei are labeled in blue (Hoechst). (D): Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis of markers for neural stem cells and differentiated cells compared for the 20% of cells expressing high and low levels of ß1 integrin. Stem cell markers were more highly expressed in the integrin ß1hi population, whereas differentiated markers were preferentially expressed by the integrin ß1lo cells. (E): Flow cytometry analysis showing unstained cells (left) and cells stained for ß1 and {alpha}6 integrin (right). Note that all {alpha}6+ cells also express ß1 integrin, but that not all ß1hi cells express high levels of {alpha}6, as discussed in the text. Abbreviations: {alpha}6(hi), the 10% of cells expressing the highest levels of {alpha}6 integrin; {alpha}6(hi)+ß1(hi), the 10% of cells expressing the highest levels of both ß1 integrin and {alpha}6 integrin; ß1(hi), the 10% of cells expressing the highest levels of ß1 integrin; FITC, fluorescein isothiocyanate; hi, high; PE, phycoerythrin.

 
Second, we asked whether cells expressing high levels of ß1 integrin showed the property of NSCs of being able to generate neurospheres. We used the neurosphere-forming assay to examine an integrin ß1hi population (the top 10% of cells as determined by ß1 integrin expression levels) compared with the total population. Labeled cells dissociated from neurospheres grown from human fetal tissue and passaged by chopping as described under Materials and Methods (primary neurospheres) were sorted by FACS into 96-well plates at a very low density of 1.25 cells per microliter (Fig. 2B) [28]. Twenty-one days later, the number of secondary neurospheres was counted. The results showed that selecting for the integrin ß1hi cells within the cells dissociated from the primary neurospheres led to a 2.1-fold increase in the number of secondary neurospheres compared with the number formed when starting with an unselected population of primary neurosphere cells (p < .05; n = 2), indicating that there are more hNSCs in the ß1hi population. To confirm that ß1hi cells used to generate the secondary neurospheres are enriched for cells capable of repeated self-renewal, we dissociated these secondary neurospheres and replated them at clonal density without any further selection for ß1hi cells. As expected, we found that they generated tertiary neurospheres whose frequency (4.88 ± 2.88 per 500 cells plated) was not significantly different from that obtained when the secondary neurospheres were generated from unselected populations (5.69 ± 3.06). To confirm that ß1hi cells are multipotent, we demonstrated the presence of both neurons and astrocytes when neurospheres generated from the ß1hi cells were plated onto adhesive substrates and withdrawn from growth factor expansion (Fig. 2C). As an alternative means of calculating the frequency of NSC in the ß1hi cells, we also performed a limiting dilution analysis as shown in supplementary online Figure 1, in which the frequency of wells without any neurospheres after 21 days was counted at a range of plating densities (10–60 cells per well), and the slope of the best-fit line was used to calculate the frequency of sphere-forming cells, as shown in supplementary online Figure 1. The result obtained in this clonal assay (5.58 ± 2.28%) was similar to that seen in the experiments shown in Figure 2B using 250 cells per well (3.05 ± 0.25%), confirming that the cell density used in this latter assay was sufficiently low to generate clonal neurospheres.

Third, ß1hi and ß1lo cells were evaluated for their expression of a panel of NSC markers (Fig. 2D). The PCR screen verified that ß1hi cells were enriched for well-established markers of rodent NSCs, with the mRNA for prominin-1, nestin, sox2, sox3, musashi1, and bmi1 being upregulated compared with the ß1lo cells. No change was seen with sox1 and musashi2, consistent with their expression in both precursors and differentiated neuronal subtypes [29, 30]. Furthermore, the neuronal marker, ßIII tubulin, was more highly expressed in the ß1lo population (Fig. 2D). Together, these findings indicate that hNSCs express high levels of ß1 integrin, whereas differentiated human neural cell types downregulate their expression of ß1 integrin.

Next, we asked which {alpha}ß1 heterodimer was highly expressed on hNSCs. An attractive candidate is {alpha}6ß1, a receptor for laminins expressed in the basal lamina found in many stem cell niches [13, 14, 23]. We investigated whether the {alpha}6 subunit, like ß1 integrin, is highly expressed by hNSCs. Figure 2E demonstrates that all {alpha}6+ cells express ß1. This was expected, as the other partner for {alpha}6, the ß4 subunit, was not expressed in human neurospheres (Fig. 1). Selecting for {alpha}6hi cells (top 10%) led to a 2.2-fold increase in neurosphere formation compared with the whole population (Fig. 2B; p < .05; n = 2). This was not significantly different from the result obtained when sorting for ß1hi alone, with no additive effect observed when selecting for both markers together (Fig. 2B). This indicates that {alpha}6 and ß1 integrins are both highly expressed on hNSCs, likely as a heterodimer, and that either subunit can be used as a marker for their enrichment. This lack of an additive effect also suggests that only {alpha}6ß1, and not other ß1 heterodimers, is expressed at high levels on hNSCs, although other ß1 heterodimers are likely to be expressed at lower levels. Importantly, not all the ß1+ cells in the neurospheres express {alpha}6 (Fig. 2E); analysis of the FACS data shows that only 20% of the ß1+ cells also express {alpha}6. This was expected, given the large number of {alpha} subunits expressed in the neurosphere cells, as shown in Figure 1. However, taken together with the lack of any additive effect of sorting for ß1hi cells and {alpha}6hi cells, this suggests that these other ß1 heterodimers must be expressed at high levels on more differentiated cell types within the neurospheres. The function of {alpha}6ß1 on hNSCs remains to be established, but previous studies examining rodent NSCs have revealed roles in maintenance, proliferation, and migration of stem/precursor cells [16, 32, 33].

An important technical issue when sorting for cells expressing high levels of markers such as integrins is that the flow cytometer measures total fluorescence. This means, as shown in supplementary online Figure 2, that large cells are more likely to appear in the markerhi category, as they will have an increased total fluorescence compared with a small cell for an equal marker density on the cell surface. Therefore, it is possible that selecting for ß1hi cells merely chooses large cells, and as increased cell size has been shown to select for rodent NSCs [9, 10], the enrichment for hNSCs we observe may simply reflect this selection for size. To exclude this possibility, cells of one particular size were sorted for ß1hi and ß1lo (Fig. 3). Again, selection of ß1hi cells led to a significant enrichment in the neurosphere-forming cell (p < .05; n = 3 for both cell sizes), confirming that hNSCs do express higher levels of ß1 integrin regardless of cell size. However, it was notable that the degree of enrichment was increased when selecting for cells of a medium size, rather than of a large size (5.1- and 1.3-fold, respectively). This is likely to be due to the hNSCs being located predominantly among the large cells, indicated by reduced number of neurospheres forming from the total population for the medium-sized cells compared with the large cells (17.79 vs. 22.96 neurospheres per 500 cells, respectively; p < .01; n = 3). Consequently, enrichment based on ß1 expression appears to be more efficient from medium-sized cells.


Figure 3
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  		Figure 3. Elevated expression of ß1 integrin in human neural stem cells is independent of cell size. To demonstrate that the enrichment seen with ß1hi cells was not simply a consequence of selecting for large cells, cells of medium (corresponding to the median 10%) or large (top 10%) size were selected and further sorted for high or low ß1 expression. Note that increased neurosphere formation was observed when selecting for integrin ß1hi cells, regardless of the cell size. *, p < .05; n = 2. Abbreviation: Pop, population.

 
Currently, the most effective marker for hNSCs is prominin-1, a pentatransmembrane domain protein of unknown function (CD133) [34, 35]. Analysis by flow cytometry indicated that integrin ß1 and prominin-1 are expressed on the same cell populations, with 90% of prominin-1+ cells also expressing ß1 integrin, and 10% of cells expressing high levels of both markers (Fig. 4A). As such, our observations in hNSCs are similar to observations that prominin-1+ cells were located within the ß1hi population of human prostate and epidermal stem cells [34, 35]. The efficiency of sorting for hNSCs using integrin ß1 was compared with the use of prominin-1 by sorting cells into 10% bins based on expression levels of either marker and performing a neurosphere-forming assay (Fig. 4B). The results indicate that ß1 integrin is as effective as prominin-1 for purifying hNSCs, leading to 2.8- and 2.4-fold increases in neurosphere numbers, respectively (p = .49; n = 3).


Figure 4
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  		Figure 4. Integrin ß1 is co-expressed with prominin-1 (CD133). (A): Flow cytometry analysis showing control, unstained cells (left) or the co-expression of prominin-1 and integrin ß1 (right). (B): Cells were sorted according to their expression levels of either integrin ß1 or prominin-1 and analyzed in a neurosphere forming assay. Bin 91–100 represents the cells expressing the highest levels of a marker; 1–10 represents the lowest. A population of live cells without selection for integrin or prominin-1 expression is also presented for comparison. Cells expressing the highest levels of ß1 integrin or prominin-1 were found to form the most neurospheres. Note that integrin ß1 is as effective as prominin-1 at enriching for hNSCs. All points, except for bins 51–60 and 61–70, were significantly different from the whole population for both markers (p < .05; n = 3 for ß1 integrin; n = 2 for prominin-1), with the five bins with low expression of ß1 or prominin-1 forming fewer neurospheres than the unselected population, whereas the three bins with high expression form more neurospheres. Abbreviations: FITC, fluorescein isothiocyanate; PE, phycoerythrin; Pop, population.

 
From the findings reported here, we conclude that integrin {alpha}6ß1 is highly expressed by human neural stem cells and can be used as a marker in FACS to enrich for them. These are notable findings for two reasons. First, the extent of this enrichment from neurospheres is equal to that achieved by selecting for prominin-1, currently the most effective marker for selecting hNSCs. Second, they add to the evidence that integrins play an important role in stem cell biology. Previous reports have identified {alpha}6 and ß1 integrin subunits as being highly expressed by rodent stem cells in testes, liver, skin, and brain [16–23, 38]. Studies have also shown elevated expression of these and other integrins on stem cells within rodent hematopoetic cells ({alpha}2, {alpha}IIb), cornea (ß1 and ß4), human colon (ß1), and skin ({alpha}6,ß1) [15, 39–43]. Taken together with the presence of a basement membrane in many stem cell niches [13], these findings indicate that integrins are likely to have a fundamental role in the signaling pathways regulating stemness in human and rodent stem cells.


   DISCLOSURES
Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results and Discussion
 Disclosures
Acknowledgments
 References
 
C.F.C. has consulted for Geron within the last 2 years.


   ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results and Discussion
 Disclosures
 Acknowledgments
References
 
This study was supported by the Multiple Sclerosis Society (P.E.H.), the NIH-Cambridge Graduate Partnership Program (J.D.L.), the Royal Society (M.A.C.), and the Wellcome Trust (N.G.A.M. and C. ff.-C.).


   REFERENCES
Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results and Discussion
 Disclosures
 Acknowledgments
 References
 

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