Pdgf signalling guides neural crest contribution to the haematopoietic stem cell specification niche.

ABSTRACT: Haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) support maintenance of the haematopoietic and immune systems throughout the life of vertebrates, and are the therapeutic component of bone marrow transplants. Understanding native specification of HSCs, to uncover key signals that might help improve in vitro directed differentiation protocols, has been a long-standing biomedical goal. The current impossibility of specifying true HSCs in vitro suggests that key signals remain unknown. We speculated that such signals might be presented by surrounding 'niche' cells, but no such cells have been defined. Here we demonstrate in zebrafish, that trunk neural crest (NC) physically associate with HSC precursors in the dorsal aorta (DA) just prior to initiation of the definitive haematopoietic program. Preventing asso

SUBMITTER: Damm EW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5546139 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature