To Investigate the Role of IGFBP-2 and IGFBP-3 on Hematopoietic Stem Cell and Leukemia Cell Proliferation

Hematopoiesis is the process by which all blood and immune cell types are continually produced. Hematopoietic Stem Cells (HSCs) are a rare population of cells found in the bone marrow and are responsible for generating all blood cell types. HSCs are the basis of bone marrow transplantation – the cure for many diseases like blood cancers involving the replacement of an individual’s immune system with transplanted donor HSCs. As HSCs are rare, more methods for HSC proliferation ex vivo are needed for replenishing blood cells for transplantation purposes. Laboratory research has shown that Insulin Growth Factor Binding Protein-2 (IGFBP-2) and Insulin Growth Factor Binding Protein-3 (IGFBP-3), are highly expressed by different bone marrow cell types, however it’s unclear their role in healthy HSCs or in malignant leukemia cells growth. Here we investigate the impact of IGFBP-2 and IGFBP-3 in proliferation of HSCs isolated from the bone marrow of mice and analyzed using flow cytometry assay. We also test their effect on proliferation of malignant MOLM13 Leukemia Cells, a type of Acute Myeloid Leukemia that arise from mutated HSCs. Our preliminary results suggest IGFBP-2 promotes the growth of leukemia cells, while IGFBP-3 seems to promote the proliferation of healthy HSCs.