Simultaneous measurement of human hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells in blood using multicolor flow cytometry

Hematopoietic stem cells are the source of all inflammatory cell types. Discovery of specific cell surface markers unique to human hematopoietic stem (HSC) and progenitor (HSPC) cell populations has facilitated studies of their development from stem cells to mature cells. The specific marker profiles of HSCs and HSPCs can be used to understand their role in human inflammatory diseases. The goal of this study is to simultaneously measure HSCs and HSPCs in normal human venous blood using multicolor flow cytometry. Our secondary aim is to determine how G-CSF mobilization alters the quantity of each HSC and HSPC population. Here we show that cells within the CD34+ fraction of human venous blood contains cells with the same cell surface markers found in human bone marrow samples. Mobilization with G-CSF significantly increases the quantity of total CD34+ cells, blood borne HSCs, multipotent progenitors, common myeloid progenitors, and megakaryocyte erythroid progenitors as a percentage of total MNCs analyzed. The increase in blood borne common lymphoid and granulocyte macrophage progenitors with G-CSF treatment did not reach significance. G-CSF treatment predominantly increased the numbers of HSCs and multipotent progenitors in the total CD34+ cell population; common myeloid progenitors and megakaryocyte erythroid progenitors were enriched relative to total MNCs analyzed, but not relative to total CD34+ cells. Our findings illustrate the utility of multicolor flow cytometry to quantify circulating HSCs and HSPCs in venous blood samples from human subjects.