Antibodies to the beta 1-integrin chain, CD44, or ICAM-3 stimulate adhesion of blast colony-forming cells and may inhibit their growth.

Early hematopoietic progenitor cells adhere to bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) mainly through VLA-4/VCAM-1 interactions. However, many adhesion molecules are expressed by these cell types. Cell adhesion molecules not only mediate adhesion; some are also capable of triggering cellular signaling events. These signals can be induced by several anti-adhesion molecule antibodies. In this study, we investigated the effects of several of such stimulatory antibodies against alpha L (CD11a), alpha 4 (CD49d), and beta 1 (CD29) integrin chains, ICAM-3 (CD50), CD34, CD44, and CD45. All antibodies reacted strongly with CD34-positive bone marrow (BM) cells, but only those against beta 1 integrin (TS2/16, Lia1/2) or CD44 (NKI-P2) reacted with BMSCs. To test the ability of these antibodies to stimulate adhesive interactions, we analyzed their effect on stroma-adherent blast colony-forming cells (Bl-CFCs). We found that TS2/16 (anti-beta 1 integrin), NKI-P2 (anti-CD44), and 152-2D11 (anti-ICAM-3) enhanced adhesion of BM mononuclear cells to stroma (TS2/16:3.4-fold, NKI-P2: 3.8-fold, 152-2D11: 2.6-fold) when compared with isotype-control-treated cells. The increase in stroma-adherent cells was accompanied by an increase in Day 5-7 blast colonies of 3.8-, 2.6-, and 1.9-fold, respectively. One antibody against CD29:Lia1/2 strongly inhibited the formation of blast colonies, an effect that was at least partially caused by its growth-inhibitory activity. Of the other antibodies tested, none displayed growth-modulatory activity. We have found previously that Bl-CFCs depend strongly on VLA-4 and VCAM-1. However, in TS2/16- or 152-2D11-treated cultures, we observed not only these, but also VLA-5-dependent adhesive interactions. In contrast, VLA-5 did not appear to be involved in NKI-P2-treated cultures. Our data indicate that interactions mediated by beta 1-integrins are involved in the growth of Bl-CFCs. Furthermore, interactions mediated by beta 1-integrins, CD44, and ICAM-3 differentially modulate VLA-4- and VLA-5-dependent progenitor/BMSC interactions.