Effect of the surface density of nanosegments immobilized on culture dishes on ex vivo expansion of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells from umbilical cord blood

Umbilical cord blood (UCB) is an attractive source of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells for hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) transplantation. However, the low number of HSCs obtainable from a single donor of UCB limits direct transplantation of UCB to the treatment of pediatric patients. In this study, we investigated the ex vivo expansion of HSCs cultured on biomaterials grafted with several nanosegments, i.e. polyamine, fibronectin, RGDS, and CS1 (EILDVPST), at several surface densities. No direct correlation was found between fold expansion of HSCs and physical parameters of the culture dishes, i.e. surface roughness and water contact angle of the culture dishes. However, a small amount of grafted amino groups, less than 0.8 residual μmol cm−2, on the dishes was effective for the ex vivo expansion of HSCs. A high amount of grafted amino groups hindered the ex vivo expansion of HSCs on the dishes. HSCs cultured on dishes with a high concentration of CS1 (2.40 residual μmol cm−2) showed greater expansion of HSCs and more pluripotent colony-forming units (i.e. colony-forming unit–granulocyte, erythroid, macrophage, and megakaryocyte (CFU-GEMM)) than those on fibronectin-grafted and polyamine-grafted dishes. These data suggest that the specific interaction between HSCs and CS1 helps to maintain the pluripotency of HSCs during the ex vivo expansion of HSCs.