Hematopoiesis News Volume 8.42 | Oct 24 2017

TOP STORY

Mfsd2b Is Essential for the Sphingosine-1-Phosphate Export in Erythrocytes and Platelets

Investigators showed that the major facilitator superfamily transporter 2b (Mfsd2b), an orphan transporter, is essential for sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) export from red blood cells and platelets. Comprehensive lipidomic analysis indicates a dramatic and specific accumulation of S1P species in Mfsd2b knockout red blood cells and platelets compared with that of wild-type controls. [Nature] Abstract | Press Release

(Ranked by impact factor of the journal)

Single-Cell RNA-Seq Reveals a Distinct Transcriptome Signature of Aneuploid Hematopoietic Cells

Researchers characterized normal hematopoiesis as binary differentiation from stem cells to erythroid and myeloid-lymphoid pathways. Aneuploid cells were distinguished from diploid cells in patient samples by computational analyses of read fractions and gene expression of individual chromosomes. [Blood] Abstract

Endothelial Jagged-2 Sustains Hematopoietic Stem and Progenitor Reconstitution after Myelosuppression

The authors used mice with endothelial cell (EC)-specific deletion of the gene encoding jagged-2 to demonstrate that while EC-derived jagged-2 was dispensable for maintaining the capacity of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) to repopulate under steady-state conditions, by activating Notch2 it did contribute to the recovery of HSPCs in response to myelosuppressive conditions. [J Clin Invest] Full Article

CRISPR/Cas9 Knockouts Reveal Genetic Interaction between Strain-Transcendent Erythrocyte Determinants of Plasmodium falciparum Invasion

Researchers report the development of a robust in vitro culture system to produce red blood cells that allow the generation of gene knockouts via CRISPR/Cas9 using the immortal JK-1 erythroleukemia line. [Proc Natl Acad Sci USA] Abstract

The Spindle Assembly Checkpoint Is Required for Hematopoietic Progenitor Cell Engraftment

Investigators revealed that the checkpoint is fully functional in murine progenitor cells and, to a lesser extent, in hematopoietic stem cells. They showed that hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells arrest at prometaphase and induce p53-dependent apoptosis upon prolonged treatment with anti-mitotic drugs. [Stem Cell Reports] Full Article | Graphical Abstract

Ex-Vivo Selection of Transduced Hematopoietic Stem Cells for Gene Therapy of β-Hemoglobinopathies

The authors fused codon-optimized puromycin N-acetyl-transferase to Herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase. When expressed from a ubiquitous promoter within a complex lentiviral vector comprising the β^AT87Q-globin gene, viral titers and therapeutic gene expression were maintained at effective levels. [Mol Ther] Abstract

Pluripotent Stem Cell Derived Hematopoietic Progenitors Are Unable to Downregulate Key EMT-Associated miRNAs

Scientists compared the miRNA expression profile of hematopoietic progenitors derived from pluripotent stem cells to those derived from bone marrow and found that numerous miRNAs are too highly expressed in hematopoietic progenitors derived from pluripotent stem cells, and that most of these are inhibitors of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) or metastasis. [Stem Cells] Abstract | Full Article

A DNA Contact Map for the Mouse Runx1 Gene Identifies Novel Hematopoietic Enhancers

Investigators used circular chromosome conformation capture sequencing to identify DNA interactions with the P1 and P2 promoters of Runx1, and the previously identified +24 enhancer, in the mouse multipotent haematopoietic progenitor cell line HPC-7. [Sci Rep] Full Article

Hematopoietic Stem Cell-Derived Exosomes Promote Hematopoietic Differentiation of Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells In Vitro via Inhibiting the miR126/Notch1 Pathway

The authors investigated whether HSC-derived exosomes could affect the differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells into HSCs. [Acta Pharmacol Sin] Full Article

CLINICAL RESEARCH

Prospective, Randomized, Double-Blind, Phase III Clinical Trial of Anti–T-Lymphocyte Globulin to Assess Impact on Chronic Graft-versus-Host Disease–Free Survival in Patients Undergoing HLA-Matched Unrelated Myeloablative Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation

In this prospective, randomized, double-blind trial of anti–T-lymphocyte globulin (ATLG) in unrelated myeloablative hematopoietic cell transplantation, the incorporation of ATLG did not improve moderate-severe chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD)-free survival. Moderate-severe cGVHD was significantly lower with ATLG, but progression-free survival and overall survival also were lower. [J Clin Oncol] Full Article | Press Release

Mouse Genetic Analysis of Bone Marrow Stem Cell Niches: Technological Pitfalls, Challenges, and Translational Considerations

The authors systematically unravel complicated data interpretations via comprehensive analyses of technological benefits, pitfalls, and challenges in frequently used mouse models and discuss their translational relevance to human stem cell biology. [Stem Cell Reports] Abstract

Visit our reviews page to see a complete list of reviews in the hematopoiesis research field.

Plasticell and GSK Sign Collaboration Agreement to Produce Hematopoietic Cells from iPSCs

Plasticell entered into a collaboration with GSK to use its combinatorial stem cell screening technology, CombiCult^®, to optimize the directed differentiation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to specific blood cell lineages for use by GSK in its therapeutic research. [Plasticell] Press Release

AbbVie and Harpoon Therapeutics Announce Immuno-Oncology Research Collaboration

AbbVie and Harpoon Therapeutics announced that they have entered an immuno-oncology research collaboration. [AbbVie, Inc.] Press Release

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Joins the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy

The Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy announced that researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have joined its network. Dana-Farber is a leader in cancer research and brings a team of experts who will collaborate with Parker Institute investigators to enhance and expand research projects and clinical trials. [Dana-Farber Cancer Institute] Press Release

Iranian Scholar Sentenced to Death

A judge in Tehran has ordered the death penalty for Iranian researcher Ahmadreza Djalali, according to his wife and diplomatic sources in Italy. Djalali is affiliated with the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, and the University of Eastern Piedmont in Novara, Italy. A resident of Sweden with his family, Djalali was arrested in April 2016 on an academic visit to Tehran and accused of “collaboration with a hostile government”. [Nature News] Editorial

In Brazil, Researchers Struggle to Fend Off Deepening Budget Cuts

With time and money running out, Brazilian scientists are turning up the pressure on the federal government to avoid a total collapse of the national science and technology funding system before the end of the year. Researchers delivered a petition with more than 82,000 signatures to congressional leaders in Brasília, demanding the reversal of deep budget cuts that have left research institutions struggling to pay even basic water and electricity bills. [ScienceInsider] Editorial

Rand Paul Takes a Poke at U.S. Peer Review Panels

Senate Republicans have launched a new attack on peer review by proposing changes to how the U.S. government funds basic research. [ScienceInsider] Editorial

NEW International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) 2018 Annual Meeting
June 20-23, 2018
Melbourne, Australia

Visit our events page to see a complete list of events in the community.

NEW Senior Customer Success Specialist – Blood & Marrow Transplantation and Cell Therapy (STEMCELL Technologies Inc.)

NEW Staff Scientist – Normal and Malignant Hematopoiesis (University of Copenhagen)

Scientists – In Vivo Leukemia Modeling (University of Copenhagen)

Faculty Positions – Hematological Malignancies (University of Alabama at Birmingham)

Postdoctoral Fellow – Hematology (University of Tennessee Health Science Center)

Postdoctoral Research Fellow – Hematopoietic Stem Cell Development (Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center)

Postdoctoral Fellowship – Development & Epigenetics (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Postdoctoral Fellow – Hematopoietic Stem Cells (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center)

Postdoctoral Positions – Stem Cell and Cancer Biology (Johns Hopkins University)

Postdoctoral Fellowship – Functional Genomics of Human Hematopoiesis (Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School)

Postdoctoral Researcher – Cellular and Molecular Immunoregulation (International Clinical Research Center of St. Anne’s University Hospital Brno)

Postdoctoral Opportunities – Hematological Malignancies (Albert Einstein College of Medicine)

Postdoctoral Fellow – Age Associated Changes of the Hematopoietic Stem Cell Compartment (National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Aging)

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