Glycoprotein Ibα Receptor Instability Is Associated with Loss of Quality in Platelets Produced in Culture

The development of culture processes for hematopoietic progenitors could lead to the development of a complementary source of platelets for therapeutic purposes. However, functional characterization of culture-derived platelets remains limited, which raises some uncertainties about the quality of platelets produced in vitro. The aim of this study was to define the proportion of functional platelets produced in cord blood CD34+ cell cultures. Toward this, the morphological and functional properties of culture-derived platelet-like particles (PLPs) were critically compared to that of blood platelets. Flow cytometry combined with transmission electron microscopy analyses revealed that PLPs formed a more heterogeneous population of platelets at a different stage of maturation than blood platelets. The majority of PLPs harbored the fibrinogen receptor αIIbβ3, but a significant proportion failed to maintain glycoprotein (GP)Ibα surface expression, a component of the vWF receptor essential for platelet functions. Importantly, GPIbα extracellular expression correlated closely with platelet function, as the GPIIb+ GPIbα+ PLP subfraction responded normally to agonist stimulation as evidenced by α-granule release, adhesion, spreading, and aggregation. In contrast, the GPIIb+ GPIbα− subfraction was unresponsive in most functional assays and appeared to be metabolically inactive. The present study confirms that functional platelets can be generated in cord blood CD34+ cell cultures, though these are highly susceptible to ectodomain shedding of receptors associated with loss of function. Optimization of culture conditions to prevent these deleterious effects and to homogenize PLPs is necessary to improve the quality and yields of culture-derived platelets before they can be recognized as a suitable complementary source for therapeutic purposes.