Regulation of hematopoietic stem cell aging by the small RhoGTPase Cdc42

Hartmut Geiger1, Yi Zheng2

  • 1Division of Experimental Hematology and Cancer Biology, Cincinnati Children׳s Hospital Medical Center and University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA; Institute for Molecular Medicine, Stem Cells and Aging, Ulm University, Ulm 89091, Germany; aging research center, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany.

Experimental Cell Research
|September 16, 2014
PubMed

Aging of stem cells might be the underlying cause of tissue aging in tissue that in the adult heavily rely on stem cell activity, like the blood forming system. Hematopoiesis, the generation of blood forming cells, is sustained by hematopoietic stem cells. In this review article, we introduce the canonical set of phenotypes associated with aged HSCs, focus on the novel aging-associated phenotype apolarity caused by elevated activity of the small RhoGTPase in aged HSCs, discuss the role of Cdc42 in hematopoiesis and describe that pharmacological inhibition of Cdc42 activity in aged HSCs results in functionally young and thus rejuvenated HSCs.

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