New research published in the journal Stem Cell Reports has described newly discovered genes that are responsible for developing hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), also known as blood stem cells.

Even though doctors have been using blood stem cells to perform a number of life-saving procedures in the last 4 decades, they never understood how they developed in the human body. The genes that were responsible for how blood stem cells developed was never fully understood. This new research is a first step in understanding the very foundations of stem cells and how they operate within the human body.

USC Stem Cell labs of Hooman Allayee and Gregor Adams discovered the new genes, suspected of playing an important part in the development of HSCs. In their research, they identified several sub-populations of HSCs including one which they deemed short-term HSCs. The short-term HSCs are responsible for the creation of red and white blood cells in the human body. 

Researchers found that the Hopx gene had a stimulatory effect on the production of short-term HSCs, which will most likely become an important finding for many stem cells treatments. Mice who were lacking the Hopx gene were found to produce fewer short-term HSCs and weren’t effective bone marrow donors.

Gregor Adams suggests that the discovery will have clinical benefits, saying: “Short-term HSCs are the major stem cells in the adult bone marrow, so finding new genetic regulators of this subpopulation may have clinical benefits.”

The research was made possible thanks to the use of a hybrid mouse diversity panel which helps researchers isolate and identify the genes that trigger specific cellular activity.

Source: Scientists Discover Genes Responsible for Blood Stem Cells Development

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