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From haematopoietic stem cells to complex differentiation landscapes

Abstract

The development of mature blood cells from haematopoietic stem cells has long served as a model for stem-cell research, with the haematopoietic differentiation tree being widely used as a model for the maintenance of hierarchically organized tissues. Recent results and new technologies have challenged the demarcations between stem and progenitor cell populations, the timing of cell-fate choices and the contribution of stem and multipotent progenitor cells to the maintenance of steady-state blood production. These evolving views of haematopoiesis have broad implications for our understanding of the functions of adult stem cells, as well as the development of new therapies for malignant and non-malignant haematopoietic diseases.

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Figure 1: Timeline of hierarchical models of haematopoiesis.
Figure 2: Trajectory-based visualizations of the haematopoietic hierarchy.
Figure 3: The composition of the HSPC compartment changes in space and time.

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Acknowledgements

We thank D. Kent for critical reading of the manuscript. E.L. is supported by a Sir Henry Dale fellowship from the Wellcome Trust (WT)/Royal Society. Research in the Laurenti and Gottgens laboratories is supported by the WT, CRUK, Bloodwise, MRC, BBSRC, NIH-NIDDK, and core support grants by the WT and MRC to the Wellcome-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute.

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E.L. and B.G. contributed equally to the writing and editing of the manuscript as well as to figure preparation.

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Correspondence to Elisa Laurenti or Berthold Göttgens.

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Laurenti, E., Göttgens, B. From haematopoietic stem cells to complex differentiation landscapes. Nature 553, 418–426 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature25022

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