Nascent glial precursors in human bone marrow allow rapid induction of functional oligodendrocyte precursors for therapy

To achieve targeted expansion of this population a two-step, virus-free and supporting cell-free induction protocol was designed and implemented. This was sufficient to derive immature-OPCs from hBMSCs. Transcriptomes of these immature-OPCs were characterized by single cell sequencing and their marker expression was examined by immunostaining.

Transplantation into myelin-deficient shiverer mice was used to demonstrate that our derived cells were capable of myelinating naked axons. Immature-OPCs were derived from hBMSCs in eight days using a simple two-step protocol. Resulting cells were positive for OPC markers and capable of myelinating naked axons when transplanted into the corpus callosum of myelin-deficient Shiverer mice.

Our results provide evidence that hBMSCs harbour multipotent pre-OPCs, that features inherent diversity in lineage-restricted progenitors pre-existing in the bone marrow. We show that one such progenitor pool can be selectively enriched and maturated harnessing protocols to yield highly pure fate-committed oligodendrocytes. This could address myelin deficiency due to autoimmune, degenerative and traumatic conditions of the central nervous system.