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Immunology

Blood lines redrawn

Nature volume 452, pages 702–703 (2008)Cite this article

The generation of blood cells is a complex affair. As the culmination of several years of study by various investigators, the latest research will necessitate revision of textbook accounts of the process.

Red cells, white cells and platelets — on the face of it, the main components of blood look simple enough. All of them are ultimately produced from a common source, haematopoietic stem cells. And the white cells, or leukocytes, have a common general function, that of immune defence. But compared with red cells and platelets, leukocytes come in a large variety of specialized types, produced by a still somewhat mysterious variety of intermediate progenitor cells.

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Figure 1: Classic scheme of haematopoiesis with an early bifurcation into lymphoid and myeloid branches.
Figure 2: Revised scheme for thymic T-cell differentiation.

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  1. Thomas Graf is at the Center for Genomic Regulation, Carrer Dr Aiguader 88, 08003 Barcelona, Spain. thomas.graf@crg.es,

    Thomas Graf

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Graf, T. Blood lines redrawn. Nature 452, 702–703 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/452702a

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