Gp130-signaling synergizes with FL and TPO for the long-term expansion of cord blood progenitors

We investigated the effect of a new fusion protein of IL-6 and the soluble IL-6R, H-IL-6, on the long-term ex vivo expansion of hematopoietic progenitors derived from AC133+cord blood cells. H-IL-6, which acts on both IL-6Ralpha-positive and IL-6Ralpha-negative cells, effectively synergized with FL and TPO with or without SCF for the propagation of primitive progenitors. However, IL-6 showed a greater synergistic effect with FL and TPO than H-IL-6 for long-term progenitor propagation. During the first 6 weeks of culture under stroma-free serum-containing conditions, IL-6 induced a 1.96 +/- 0.64-fold higher expansion of nucleated cells, a 2.28 +/- 0.33-fold higher expansion of CD34+ cells an…