Promoting 3-D Aggregation of FACS Purified Thymic Epithelial Cells with EAK 16-II/EAKIIH6 Self-assembling Hydrogel

Summary

This video demonstrates a protocol to enrich thymic epithelial cells (TECs) with density gradient for FACS isolation. It also shows the use of EAK16-II/EAKIIH6 peptides to promote the TEC aggregate formation. The microenvironments of EAK16-II/EAKIIH6 hydrogel provide the 3-D configuration necessary to maintain the survival and function of the TECs.

Abstract

Thymus involution, associated with aging or pathological insults, results in diminished output of mature T-cells. Restoring the function of a failing thymus is crucial to maintain effective T cell-mediated acquired immune response against invading pathogens. However, thymus regeneration and revitalization proved to be challenging, largely due to the difficulties of reproducing the unique 3D microenvironment of the thymic stroma that is critical for the survival and function of thymic epithelial cells (TECs). We developed a novel hydrogel system to promote the formation of TEC aggregates, based on the self-assembling property of the amphiphilic EAK16-II oligopeptides and its histidinylated analogue EAKIIH6. TECs were enriched from isolated thymic cells with density-gradient, sorted with fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS), and labeled with anti-epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) antibodies that were anchored, together with anti-His IgGs, on the protein A/G adaptor complexes. Formation of cell aggregates was promoted by incubating TECs with EAKIIH6 and EAK16-II oligopeptides, and then by increasing the ionic concentration of the medium to initiate gelation. TEC aggregates embedded in EAK hydrogel can effectively promote the development of functional T cells in vivo when transplanted into the athymic nude mice.

Introduction

The thymus is the primary lymphoid organ responsible for the generation of a diverse population of pathogen-reactive, self-tolerant T cells that is essential to the function of the acquired immune system. It is a dynamic organ where developing thymocytes, immigrated from the bone marrow as lymphocyte progenitor cells, migrate through the sponge-like three-dimensional (3-D) matrix of the thymic stroma, undergo lineage-specification and differentiation, and eventually emigrate as mature T-cells. The success of this well programmed process depends largely on the cross-talk between the migrating thymocytes and the residential thymic epithelial cells (TECs), the predominan....

Protocol

All the animals used in the experiments were housed in the animal facility at Allegheny-Singer Research Institute under the protocol reviewed and approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the Allegheny Health Network/Allegheny Singer Research Institute.

1. Digesting the Thymus with Collagenase

1. Harvest thymus glands.
   1. Euthanize 3-5 week-old C57BL6/J mice in a carbon dioxide (CO₂) chamber to harvest thymus glands. In detail, place the mice in the chamber under CO₂ induction for 3-5 min and confirm death by verifying cardiac or respiratory arrest.
   2. Lay the carcass on i....

Results

To examine the effectiveness of using the density gradient separation protocol to enrich the CD45- stromal cells, cells harvested from both the interface and the precipitated lymphocyte pellets were stained with anti-CD45 and anti-EpCAM antibodies. Both anti-Ulex Europaeus Agglutinin 1 (UEA1) and anti-MHC Class II antibodies were also included in the staining cocktail to further identify the cTEC and mTEC subsets. As shown in Figure 1, we were able to routinely achieve cl.......

Discussion

While TECs are the predominant population of the thymic stroma and play essential roles for the structure and function of the thymus glands, they represent only about 0.1-0.5% of the total thymic cellularity. They are also fragile cells as high percentages of cell death are occasionally observed following collagenase digestion, i.e., the treatment to dissociate TECs from the extracellular matrix (ECM). Their rarity (~200,000 per mouse thymus) and fragility made it a challenging task to isolate TECs. The recent u.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
TEC Isolation
70% Ethanol	Decon Laboratories	2701(1 Gallon)	Ethanol 200 Proof, deionized water
Dissecting scissors, straight	Fine Science Tools, Inc.	91460-11
Graefe forceps, straight	Fine Science Tools, Inc.	11053-10
Graefe forceps, curved	Fine Science Tools, Inc.	11052-10
Washing solution			1x PBS, 0.1% BSA, 2 mM EDTA
1x PBS (Phosphate buffered saline)	Gibco	10010-023
BSA (Bovine serum albumin)	Sigma	A1470-100G
EDTA (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid)	Invitrogen	15575-038
Digestion solution			9 ml RPMI-1640, 0.025 mg/ml Liberase TM Research grade, 10 mM HEPES, 0.2 mg/ml DNaseI
RPMI-1640	Gibco	11879-020
Liberase TM Research Grade	Roche	05 401 127 001	referred as "purified collagenase"
1 M HEPES	Lonza	17-737E
Dnase I	Roche	10 104 159 001
50 ml Centrifuge tube	Corning	430290
60 mm tissue culture dish	Falcon	353002
1/2 cc U-100 Insulin syringe 28 1/2 G	Becton Dickinson	329461
5 ml Polystyrene round-bottom tube	Falcon	352058
5 ml glass pipet	Fisher Healthcare	13-678-27E	Use for rinsing the thymic fragments. Thymic fragments tend to stick to the wall with plastic pipets.
MACSmix tube rotator	Miltenyi	130-090-753
100 µm Cell strainer	Falcon	352360
Density gradient medium: OptiPrep	Axis-Shield
Cell Sorting
5 ml Polypropylene round-bottom tube	Falcon	352063
Anti-mouse CD16/CD32 (Fc Block)	BD Biosciences	553142	Use as undiluted, 2 µl per sample
Anti-mouse CD45-PercpCy5.5	eBioscience	45-0451-80	Use at 1:150, 10 µl per sample
Anti-mouse CD326 (EpCAM)-PE	eBioscience	12-5791-82	Use at 1:100, 10 µl per sample
BD Influx	BD Biosciences
Single cell analysis software	FlowJo
EAK Gel Assembly
Anti-His-Tag	AnaSpec	29673	"anti-His-Tag IgG"
Purified anti-mouse CD326 (EpCAM)	BioLegend	118202	"anti-EpCAM IgG"
Recombinant protein A/G	Pierce Biotechnology
1.5 ml Safe-Lock Tubes, Biopur, Sterile	Fisher Healthcare	05-402-24B	referred as "1.5 ml microcentrifuge tube"
96-well, Tissue culture plate, Round-bottom with low evaporation lid	BD Falcon	353917
Rocking platform: Nutator Mixer no.1105	BD Clay Adams
10% sucrose	Sigma	S0389	Prepare with sterile distilled water
EAK16-II (AcNH-AEAEAKAKAEAEAKAK-CONH2)	American Peptide Company		custom synthesized, 10 mg/ml
EAKIIH6 (AcNH-AEAEAKAKAEAEAKAKHHHHHH-CONH2)	American Peptide Company		custom synthesized, 7.5 mg/ml
Complete medium			RPMI-1640, 10% FBS, 1% Pen/Strep, 1% L-glutamine, 1% NEAA, 5 mM HEPES, 50 µM 2-Mercaptoethanol
RPMI-1640	Gibco	11879-020
FBS (Fetal Bovine Serum)	Atlanta Biologicals	S11150	Heat inactivated before use
Pen/Strep	Gibco	15140-122
L-glutamine 200 mM (100x)	Gibco	25030-081
NEAA (non-essential amino acid) 100x	Gibco	11140-050
1 M HEPES	BioWhittaker	17-737E
2-Mercaptoethanol (100x)	Millipore	ES-007-E
Platform shaker: The Belly Dancer	Stovall Life Sciences Inc.	model: USBDbo