Junctional Adhesion Molecule-A Is Highly Expressed on Human Hematopoietic Repopulating Cells and Associates with the Key Hematopoietic Chemokine Receptor CXCR4.
Chang C-H., Hale SJ., Cox CV., Blair A., Kronsteiner B., Grabowska R., Zhang Y., Cook D., Khoo CP., Schrader JB., Kabuga SB., Martin-Rendon E., Watt SM.
Hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs) reside in specialized bone marrow microenvironmental niches, with vascular elements (endothelial/mesenchymal stromal cells) and CXCR4-CXCL12 interactions playing particularly important roles for HSPC entry, retention, and maintenance. The functional effects of CXCL12 are dependent on its local concentration and rely on complex HSPC-niche interactions. Two Junctional Adhesion Molecule family proteins, Junctional Adhesion Molecule-B (JAM)-B and JAM-C, are reported to mediate HSPC-stromal cell interactions, which in turn regulate CXCL12 production by mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs). Here, we demonstrate that another JAM family member, JAM-A, is most highly expressed on human hematopoietic stem cells with in vivo repopulating activity (p