Background
Transplantation of myogenic stem cells possesses great potential for long-term repair of dystrophic muscle. In murine-to-murine transplantation experiments, CXCR4 expression marks a population of adult murine satellite cells with robust engraftment potential in mdx mice, and CXCR4-positive murine muscle-derived SP cells home more effectively to dystrophic muscle after intra-arterial delivery in mdx5cv mice. Together, these data suggest that CXCR4 plays an important role in donor cell engraftment. Therefore, we sought to translate these
Conclusions
Therefore, these results establish the efficacy of diprotin A in stimulating muscle cell engraftment, and highlight the pre-clinical utility of a xenotransplantation model in assessing the relative efficacy of muscle stem cell populations.
Methods
In this study, we used a canine-to-murine xenotransplantation model to quantitatively compare canine muscle cell engraftment, and test the most effective cell population and modulating factor in a canine model of DMD using allogeneic transplantation experiments.
Results
We show that CXCR4 expressing cells are important for donor muscle cell engraftment, yet FACS sorted CXCR4-positive cells display decreased engraftment efficiency. However, diprotin A, a positive modulator of CXCR4-SDF-1 binding, significantly enhanced engraftment and stimulated sustained proliferation of donor cells in vivo. Furthermore, the canine-to-murine xenotransplantation model accurately predicted results in canine-to-canine muscle cell transplantation. Conclusions: Therefore, these results establish the efficacy of diprotin A in stimulating muscle cell engraftment, and highlight the pre-clinical utility of a xenotransplantation model in assessing the relative efficacy of muscle stem cell populations.