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Of lineage and legacy: the development of mammalian hematopoietic stem cells

Nature Immunology volume 9, pages 129–136 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

The hematopoietic system is one of the first complex tissues to develop in the mammalian conceptus. Of particular interest in the field of developmental hematopoiesis is the origin of adult bone marrow hematopoietic stem cells. Tracing their origin is complicated because blood is a mobile tissue and because hematopoietic cells emerge from many embryonic sites. The origin of the adult mammalian blood system remains a topic of lively discussion and intense research. Interest is also focused on developmental signals that induce the adult hematopoietic stem cell program, as these may prove useful for generating and expanding these clinically important cell populations ex vivo. This review presents a historical overview of and the most recent data on the developmental origins of hematopoiesis.

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Figure 1: Vertebrate hematopoietic development.
Figure 2: The generation of hematopoietic cells in the mouse conceptus.
Figure 3: Timeline of hematopoietic events in the mouse conceptus.

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Acknowledgements

We thank lab members and colleagues for discussions; and the Fondation des Treilles for supporting scientific dialog through the colloquium 'Stem cells of the blood vascular system'. T. de Vries Lentsch produced the figures here. Supported by the National Institutes of Health (RO1 HL091724 and R37 DK54077) and Dutch Innovative Research Program (BSIK SCDD 03038) and Dutch Medical Sciences Research Organization (VICI 916.36.601).

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  1. Department of Cell Biology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, 3000, CA, The Netherlands

    Elaine Dzierzak

  2. Department of Biochemistry, Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, 03755, New Hampshire, USA

    Nancy A Speck

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Correspondence to Elaine Dzierzak or Nancy A Speck.

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Dzierzak, E., Speck, N. Of lineage and legacy: the development of mammalian hematopoietic stem cells. Nat Immunol 9, 129–136 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/ni1560

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