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CD44 is required for the migration of transplanted oligodendrocyte progenitor cells to focal inflammatory demyelinating lesions in the spinal cord
Author(s) -
Piao JingHua,
Wang Yanping,
Duncan Ian D.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
glia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.954
H-Index - 164
eISSN - 1098-1136
pISSN - 0894-1491
DOI - 10.1002/glia.22438
Subject(s) - biology , remyelination , multiple sclerosis , cd44 , lesion , transplantation , progenitor cell , oligodendrocyte , microbiology and biotechnology , zymosan , immunology , myelin , pathology , stem cell , neuroscience , in vitro , central nervous system , medicine , biochemistry
Remyelination of chronically demyelinated axons in multiple sclerosis (MS) requires the recruitment of endogenous cells or their replacement by transplanted, exogenous oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs). We have previously shown that an OPC line, CG4, preferentially migrates after transplantation toward focal areas of inflammatory demyelination and axon loss created by injection of zymosan in the rat spinal cord. Here we show that many transplanted CG4 cells had already migrated into the inflammatory lesion after 1 day. We demonstrate that a large number of CG4 cells that had migrated, expressed the adhesion protein, CD44, and that CD44′s main ligand, hyaluronic acid (HA) was robustly expressed in the inflammatory lesion. In an in vitro migration assay, migration declined significantly following blocking of CD44 expression on CG4 cells. Likewise, migration of CG4 cells toward a zymosan lesion in vivo was inhibited when transplanted cells were exposed to a CD44 blocking antibody prior to transplantation. These findings suggest that CD44 is a key molecule in the migration of OPCs toward the focal inflammatory demyelinated lesion induced by zymosan, and may be an important in OPC repair in MS. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.