Soluble interleukin-6 (IL-6) receptor with IL-6 stimulates megakaryopoiesis from human CD34⁺ cells through glycoprotein (gp)130 signaling

We have recently shown that stimulation of glycoprotein (gp) 130, the membrane-anchored signal transducing receptor component of IL-6, by a complex of human soluble interleukin-6 receptor (sIL-6R) and IL-6 (sIL-6R/IL-6), potently stimulates the ex vivo expansion as well as erythropoiesis of human stem/progenitor cells in the presence of stem cell factor (SCF). Here we show that sIL-6R dose-dependently enhanced the generation of megakaryocytes (Mks) (IIbIIIa-positive cells) from human CD34⁺ cells in serum-free suspension culture supplemented with IL-6 and SCF. The sIL-6R/IL-6 complex also synergistically acted with IL-3 and thrombopoietin (TPO) on the generation of Mks from CD34⁺ cells, whereas the synergy of IL-6 alone with TPO was barely detectable. Accordingly, the addition of sIL-6R to the combination of SCF + IL-6 also supported a substantial number of Mk colonies from CD34⁺ cells in serum-free methylcellulose culture, whereas SCF + IL-6 in the absence of sIL- 6R rarely induced Mk colonies. The addition of monoclonal antibodies against gp130 to the suspension and clonal cultures completely abrogated the megakaryopoiesis induced by sIL-6R/IL-6 in the presence of SCF, whereas an anti-TPO antibody did not, indicating that the observed megakaryopoiesis by sIL-6R/IL-6 is a response to gp130 signaling and independent of TPO. Furthermore, human CD34⁺ cells were subfractionated into two populations of IL-6R-negative (CD34⁺ IL-6R^-) and IL-6R-positive (CD34⁺ IL-6R⁺) cells by fluorescence-activated cell sorting. The CD34⁺ IL-6R^- cells produced a number of Mks as well as Mk colonies in cultures supplemented with sIL- 6R/IL-6 or TPO in the presence of SCF. In contrast, CD34⁺ IL-6R⁺ cells generated much less Mks and lacked Mk colony forming activity under the same conditions. Collectively, the present results indicate that most of the human Mk progenitors do not express IL-6R, and that sIL-6R confers the responsiveness of human Mk progenitors to IL-6. Together with the presence of functional sIL-6R in human serum and relative unresponsiveness of human Mk progenitors to IL-6 in vitro, current results suggest that the role of IL-6 may be mainly mediated by sIL-6R, and that the gp130 signaling initiated by the sIL-6R/IL-6 complex is involved in human megakaryopoiesis in vivo.