Role of the stem cell factor (SCF) receptor and the alternative forms of its ligand (SCF) in the induction of long-term growth by stroma cells.

Self renewal and differentiation of hematopoietic stem cells is regulated by the hematopoietic microenvironment. The Stem Cell Factor (SCF) has been shown to be one of the essential factors that governs stem cell maintenance. In this abstract we describe a functional analysis of the membrane bound and soluble SCF within the context of stroma cocultures with hematopoietic cells. We report that transmembrane SCF is essential for long term growth, whereas soluble SCF supports only short term proliferation of stroma dependent hematopoietic cells. We also show that the SCF/c-kit interaction can be substituted by an unknown mechanism. To determine the molecular mechanism involved in maintenance of hematopoietic cells on stroma we analyzed the c-kit expression during coculture. We demonstrate that c-kit expression was downregulated during coculture. Downregulation was induced by the coculture itself and not by external factors.