Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-7 but not BMP-2 and BMP-4 improves maintenance of primitive peripheral blood-derived hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPC) cultured in serum-free medium supplemented with early acting cytokines.

BMPs regulate the developmental program of hematopoiesis. We demonstrate an increased expression of the BMP receptors Ia and II on cultured CD34+ cells and examine the impact of BMP-2, -4 and -7 on postnatal HPC cultured with stem cell factor, flt3-ligand and interleukin-3 (SF3). The addition of BMP-2 at 5, 25 and 50ng/m to serum-free medium with SF3 yielded a 1.4- to 1.2-fold increase of CD34+ cells after seven days, but no effect on CFC or LTC-IC was observed. BMP-4 at 25ng/ml induced a 2.9-fold expansion of colony-forming cells (CFC) within 1 week followed by a decrease to pre-culture values on day 14. The number of long-term culture initiating cells (LTC-IC) decreased by the factor 40 from day 0 to day 14. BMP-7 at 5–50ng/ml had not effect on the expansion of CD34+ cells and CFC, but improved at 5ng/ml the survival of LTC-IC significantly as compared to SF3 alone. In summary, BMP-2, -4 and -7 have no effect on the proliferation of CD34+ cells and CFC cultured with serum-free medium and SF3. However, BMP-7 but not BMP-2 and BMP-4 prevents the loss of primitive hematopoietic progenitor cells cultured in SFM plus SF3.