Journal Article

Regulation of hematopoietic stem cell growth

Attar, E C, Scadden, D T

2004

Overview

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) must balance self-renewal and differentiation to provide sufficient primitive cells to sustain hematopoiesis, while generating more mature cells with specialized capabilities. The enhanced self-renewal capacity of primitive HSCs enables their ability to sustain hematopoiesis throughout decades of life and their ability to repopulate a host when used therapeutically in bone marrow transplantation. However, hematopoietic cell perturbations resulting in unchecked self-renewal participate in leukemogenesis. While mechanisms governing self-renewal are still being uncovered, they are thought to bear relationship to the malignant process in a variety of tumor types and may therefore provide useful therapeutic targets in putative cancer stem cells. This review discusses molecular mechanisms recently defined to participate in HSC governance and highlights features of stem cell interactions with the microenvironment that may help guide therapies directed at HSCs.

• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group UK,Nature Publishing,Nature Publishing Group
• Subject: Animals / Biological and medical sciences / Bone marrow / Bone marrow transplantation / Cancer / Cancer Research / Cell Cycle / Cell Differentiation / Cell growth / Cell interactions / Cell self-renewal / Critical Care Medicine / Hematologic and hematopoietic diseases / Hematology / Hematopoiesis / Hematopoietic stem cells / Hematopoietic Stem Cells - cytology / Hematopoietic Stem Cells - physiology / Humans / Intensive / Internal Medicine / Leukemia / Leukemogenesis / Medical sciences / Medicine / Medicine & Public Health / Microenvironments / Molecular modelling / Oncology / Perturbation / Proto-Oncogene Proteins - metabolism / Regeneration - physiology / Regenerative medicine / review / Stem cells / Therapeutic targets / Transplantation / Transplants & implants / Tumors