Breakthrough Study Maps Human Blood Stem Cell Differentiation
An international team of researchers, led by the University Medical Center Frankfurt and the Goethe University, has published a groundbreaking study in Nature Communications. The research provides a detailed map of how human blood stem cells differentiate into various specialized blood cells throughout our lifetime.
The study, titled 'Continuous map of early hematopoietic stem cell differentiation across human lifetime', offers insights into what makes a cell a stem cell and which genes govern its differentiation. Blood cells, including red blood cells, platelets, and white blood cells, develop from blood stem cells through distinct stages.
The interdisciplinary team, comprising physicians, natural scientists, and bioinformaticians, used advanced sequencing methods and high-performance computers to analyze the gene and protein patterns of over 62,000 individual cells. Notably, they discovered that even stem cells possess surface proteins that help suppress inflammatory and defense reactions within their own body. One such protein, PD-L2, was found to play a crucial role in this process.
The research, conducted in collaboration with the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC), sheds light on the molecular decoding of differentiation pathways in human blood stem cells. PD-L2 was found to serve as a protective mechanism, preventing immune-mediated damage, particularly against the body's own stem cells and in stem cell transplants. This discovery could pave the way for improved stem cell therapies and a better understanding of blood cell development.
