Overexpression of the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Confers Migratory Properties to Nonmigratory Postnatal Neural Progenitors

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Abstract
Approaches to successful cell transplantation therapies for the injured brain involve selecting the appropriate neural progenitor type and optimizing the efficiency of the cell engraftment. Here we show that epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expression enhances postnatal neural progenitor migrationin vitroandin vivo. Migratory NG2-expressing (NG2+) progenitor cells of the postnatal subventricular zone (SVZ) express higher EGFR levels than nonmigratory, cortical NG2+cells. The higher endogenous EGFR expression in SVZ NG2+cells is causally related with their migratory potentialin vitroas well asin vivoafter cell engraftment. EGFR overexpression in cortical NG2+cells by transient transfection converted these cells to a migratory phenotypein vitroandin vivo. Finally, cortical NG2+cells purified from a transgenic mouse in which the EGFR is overexpressed under the CNP promoter exhibited enhanced migratory capability. These findings reveal a new role for EGFR in the postnatal brain and open new avenues to optimize cell engraftment for brain repair.