Cell cycle regulation in hematopoietic stem cells

Eric M Pietras1, Matthew R Warr, Emmanuelle Passegué

  • 1Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology, The Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.

The Journal of Cell Biology
|November 30, 2011
PubMed

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) give rise to all lineages of blood cells. Because HSCs must persist for a lifetime, the balance between their proliferation and quiescence is carefully regulated to ensure blood homeostasis while limiting cellular damage. Cell cycle regulation therefore plays a critical role in controlling HSC function during both fetal life and in the adult. The cell cycle activity of HSCs is carefully modulated by a complex interplay between cell-intrinsic mechanisms and cell-extrinsic factors produced by the microenvironment. This fine-tuned regulatory network may become altered with age, leading to aberrant HSC cell cycle regulation, degraded HSC function, and hematological malignancy.

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