Integrins are markers of human neural stem cells

The identification of markers for the isolation of human neural stem cells (hNSCs) is essential for studies of their biology and therapeutic applications. This study investigated expression of the integrin receptor family by hNSCs as potential markers. Selection of alpha 6(hi) beta 1(hi) cells by fluorescence-activated cell sorting led to an enrichment of human neural precursors, as shown by both neurosphere forming assays and increased expression of prominin-1, sox2, sox3, nestin, bmi1 and musashi1 in the beta 1(hi) population. Cells expressing high levels of beta 1(hi) integrin also expressed prominin-1 (CD133), a marker previously used to isolate hNSCs, and selection using integrin beta 1(hi) cells or prominin-1(hi) cells was found to be equally effective at enriching for hNSCs from neurospheres. Therefore, integrin subunits alpha 6 and beta 1 are highly expressed by human neural precursors and represent convenient markers for their prospective isolation.