Cell Cycle Differences in Vitro between Primitive Hematopoietic Cell Populations from Adult and Umbilical Cord Blood

Lineage-negative (Lin⁻) cell populations, obtained by negative selection from umbilical cord blood (UCB) and adult mobilized peripheral blood (aMPB), were cultured in serum-free liquid cultures supplemented with a mixture of seven stimulatory cytokines. On specific days, proliferation potential was assessed and cell cycle status was determined by DNA content. Expression of the cell cycle regulators cyclin D3 (cD3), cyclin-dependent kinase 4 (cdk4), p21^cip1/waf1 (p21), and p27^kip1 (p27) was also determined. As expected, UCB cells showed significantly higher proliferation potentials than aMPB cells, particularly during the first 7 days of culture. During this period of time, higher numbers of cell cycles were observed in UCB cells (7–9 cycles), as compared to aMPB cells (5–6 cycles). Higher levels of cD3, cdk4, and p27 were also detected in UCB cells. Our results confirm that UCB cells possess an intrinsically higher proliferation potential, as compared to aMPB cells, and suggest that such a biological difference is due, at least in part, to differences in cell cycle status. This, in turn, seems to result from the differential expression of cell cycle regulatory molecules.