Blood’s life history traced through genomic scars

Sekar, Aswin; Ebert, Benjamin L.

doi:10.1038/d41586-022-01304-y

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01 June 2022

Blood’s life history traced through genomic scars

Two studies of the mutations acquired by blood-forming cells over time provide insights into the dynamics of blood production in humans and its relationship to ageing.

Aswin Sekar ⁰ &
Benjamin L. Ebert ¹

Aswin Sekar
1. Aswin Sekar is in the Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA.
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Benjamin L. Ebert
1. Benjamin L. Ebert is in the Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA, and at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Boston.
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Humans produce roughly two million blood cells each second, derived from a relatively small pool of haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). Over a lifetime, each HSC accumulates mutations in its DNA, some of which confer a competitive advantage on the cell and its descendants. The result is a phenomenon known as clonal haematopoiesis, which leads to an expanded pool of blood cells descended from the same HSC. Two studies¹^,² in Nature now transform our understanding of the dynamics that underpin clonal haematopoiesis in ageing and cancer development.

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Nature 606, 255-256 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-01304-y

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Competing Interests

B.L.E. has received research funding from Celgene, Deerfield, Novartis and Calico, and consulting fees from GRAIL. He is a member of the scientific advisory board and shareholder for Neomorph Therapeutics, TenSixteen Bio, Skyhawk Therapeutics and Exo Therapeutics.