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Phenotypic Analysis and Isolation of Murine Hematopoietic Stem Cells and Lineage-committed Progenitors
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Life and death in hematopoietic stem cells

Hideyuki Oguro1, Atsushi Iwama

  • 1Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba 260-8670, Japan.

Current Opinion in Immunology
|July 10, 2007
PubMed

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are defined as primitive cells that are capable of both self-renewal and differentiation into any of the hematopoietic cell lineages. HSC numbers need to be precisely regulated to maintain hematopoietic homeostasis. HSCs undergo several cell fate decisions, including decisions on life and death and self-renewal and differentiation, which have crucial roles in the regulation of their numbers and lifespan. Defects in these processes have been found to contribute to hematopoietic insufficiencies and the development of hematopoietic malignancies. Recent studies have begun to elucidate how HSCs make life and death decisions and the underlying molecular mechanisms involved, highlighting the importance of a balance between survival and death in the regulation of HSCs.

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