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Genetic programs regulating HSC specification, maintenance and expansion

Oncogene volume 23, pages 7199–7209 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

All mature blood cells originate from a small population of self-renewing pluripotent hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). The capacity to self-renew characterizes all stem cells, whether normal or neoplastic. Interestingly, recent studies suggest that self-renewal is essential for tumor cell maintenance, implicating that this process has therapeutic relevance. Unfortunately, the molecular bases for self-renewal of vertebrate cells remain poorly defined. This article will focus on the developmental mechanisms underlying fetal and adult HSC homeostasis. Specifically, distinctions between genetic programs regulating HSC specification (identity), self-renewal (in both fetal and adult) and differentiation/commitment will be discussed with a special emphasis on transcriptional and chromatin regulators.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge all members of our laboratory for insightful discussions and for their constant support. We also thank Dr Stuart H Orkin for critical reading of the manuscript. This work was funded by a research grant from the National Cancer Institute of Canada (#013241). JL is a recipient of a post-doctoral fellowship from the Human Frontiers in Science Program (HFSP), AF is a recipient of an FRSQ studentship and GS is a scholar of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of America.

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  1. Julie Lessard and Amélie Faubert: These authors contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Developmental Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, USA

    Julie Lessard

  2. Laboratory of Molecular Genetics of Hematopoietic Stem Cells, Research Institute in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC), Université de Montréal, Montréal, H2W 1R7, Québec, Canada

    Amélie Faubert & Guy Sauvageau

  3. Department of Medicine, Montréal, H3C 3J7, Québec, Canada

    Guy Sauvageau

  4. Division of Hematology, Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, Montréal, H1T 2M2, Québec, Canada

    Guy Sauvageau

  5. Department of Experimental Medicine, McGill University, Montréal, Canada

    Amélie Faubert

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Correspondence to Guy Sauvageau.

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Lessard, J., Faubert, A. & Sauvageau, G. Genetic programs regulating HSC specification, maintenance and expansion. Oncogene 23, 7199–7209 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.onc.1207940

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