Molecular interactome between HSCs and their niches.

Because hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) were found to require a bone marrow (BM) habitat for long-term function, many studies have attempted to dissect key cellular and molecular interactions between HSCs and their BM microenvironments or HSC niches. In this issue of Blood, Mende et al provide a computational method to infer potential ligand-receptor interactions between murine hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) and their niche-forming cells

Human and mouse leukocytes: different clockwork.

In this issue of Blood, Zhao et al use a humanized mouse model to investigate the mechanisms driving daily oscillations in circulating human and murine leukocytes.1 In the same mice, they find human and murine circulating leukocytes displaying inverted oscillations, reproducing the trafficking pattern previously observed in both species. A novel network regulating circadian leukocyte trafficking is proposed. It involves interspecies differences of stress-kinase regulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), hypoxia-inducible factor 1a (HIF-1a) and clock gene–dependent regulation of the CXCL12 receptor CXCR4. This study underscores the crosstalk of the genetic clock with metabolism and ROS in the regulation of leukocyte migration and reveals new mechanistic players

Neuronal regulation of bone marrow stem cell niches.

The bone marrow (BM) is the primary site of postnatal hematopoiesis and hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) maintenance. The BM HSC niche is an essential microenvironment which evolves and responds to the physiological demands of HSCs. It is responsible for orchestrating the fate of HSCs and tightly regulates the processes that occur in the BM, including self-renewal, quiescence, engraftment, and lineage differentiation. However, the BM HSC niche is disturbed following hematological stress such as hematological malignancies, ionizing radiation, and chemotherapy, causing the cellular composition to alter and remodeling to occur. Consequently, hematopoietic recovery has been the focus of many recent studies and elucidating these mechanisms has great biological and clinical relevance, namely to exploit these mechanisms as a therapeutic treatment for hematopoietic malignancies and improve regeneration following BM injury. The sympathetic nervous system innervates the BM niche and regulates the migration of HSCs in and out of the BM under steady state. However, recent studies have investigated how sympathetic innervation and signaling are dysregulated under stress and the subsequent effect they have on hematopoiesis. Here, we provide an overview of distinct BM niches and how they contribute to HSC regulatory processes with a particular focus on neuronal regulation of HSCs under steady state and stress hematopoiesis

The hematopoietic stem-cell niche in health and leukemia.

Research in the last decade has shown that hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) interact with and are modulated by a complex multicellular microenvironment in the bone marrow, which includes both the HSC progeny and multiple non-hematopoietic cell types. Intense work is gradually throwing light on the composition of the HSC niche and the molecular cues exchanged between its components, which has implications for HSC production, maintenance and expansion. In addition, it has become apparent that bidirectional interactions between leukemic cells and their niche play a previously unrecognized role in the initiation and development of hematological malignancies. Consequently, targeting of the malignant niche holds considerable promise for more specific antileukemic therapies. Here we summarize the latest insights into HSC niche biology and recent work showing multiple connections between hematological malignancy and alterations in the bone marrow microenvironment.This work was supported by core support grants from the Wellcome Trust and MRC to the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (SAF-2011-30308), Pro-CNIC Foundation, Severo Ochoa Center of Excellence award SEV-2015-0505 to CNIC, TerCel (Spanish Cell Therapy Network), Ramón y Cajal Program grants RYC-2011-09726 to AS-A and RYC-2009-04703 to SM-F), Marie Curie Career Integration Program grants (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-RG-294262/294096) to AS-A and SM-F; and a ConSEPOC-Comunidad de Madrid grant (S2010/BMD-2542) and Horizon2020 (ERC-2014-CoG-64765 grant to SM-F. This research was partly funded by a European Hematology Association Research Fellowship awarded to AS-A and an International Early Career Scientist Grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to SM-F.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00018-016-2306-

Gαs Uncouples Hematopoietic Stem Cell Homing and Mobilization

Defects of hematopoietic stem cell adhesion or migration generally lead to reduced homing to, and enhanced mobilization from, the bone marrow. In a recent publication in Nature, Adams et al. (2009) demonstrate that the guanine-nucleotide-binding stimulatory α subunit (Gαs) can, unexpectedly, promote both phenomena

Microenvironmental contributions to hematopoietic stem cell aging.

Hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) aging was originally thought to be essentially an HSC-autonomous process, which is the focus of another review in the same issue of Haematologica However, studies on the microenvironment that maintains and regulates HSC (HSC niche) over the past 20 years have suggested that microenvironmental aging contributes to declined HSC function over time. The HSC niches comprise a complex and dynamic molecular network of interactions across multiple cell types, including endothelial cells, mesenchymal stromal cells, osteoblasts, adipocytes, neuroglial cells and mature hematopoietic cells. Upon aging, functional changes in the HSC niches, such as microenvironmental senescence, imbalanced bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cell differentiation, vascular remodeling, changes in adrenergic signaling and inflammation, coordinately and dynamically influence the fate of HSC and their downstream progeny. The end result is lymphoid deficiency and myeloid skewing. During this process, aged HSC and their derivatives remodel the niche to favor myeloid expansion. Therefore, the crosstalk between HSC and the microenvironment is indispensable for the aging of the hematopoietic system and might represent a therapeutic target in age-related pathological disorders

Myocardial Function Maturation in Very-Low-Birth-Weight Infants and Development of Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia

Background: Myocardial function in very-low-birth-weight infants (VLBWIs) develops during early postnatal life, but different patterns of temporal evolution that might be related to the development of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) are not completely understood. Methods: A prospective cohort study including VLBWIs admitted to our NICU from January 2015 to 2017 was conducted. Plasma N-terminal pro B type natriuretic peptide (NTproBNP) levels were measured, and echocardiograms were performed at 24 and 72 h of life and weekly thereafter until 36 weeks of postmenstrual age (PMA). We measured the tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE) by M-mode; the lateral tricuspid E', A', and S' waves; and the myocardial performance index (MPI) by tissue doppler imaging (TDI). The subjects were divided into non-BPD and BPD groups. Results: We included 101 VLBWIs. The TAPSE and E', A', and S' waves increased while MPI-TDI decreased over time. Birth gestational age (GA) and postnatal PMA impacted these parameters, which evolved differently in those who developed BPD compared to those in the non-BPD group. The NTproBNP levels at 14 days of life and different echocardiographic parameters were associated with the development of BPD in different multivariate models. Conclusion: TAPSE and TDI values depend on GA and PMA and follow a different temporal evolution that is related to the later development of BPD. Combined biochemical and echocardiographic biomarkers can help identify which VLBWIs are at higher risk of developing BDP

Stem cells "aclymatise" to regenerate the blood system.

How blood stem cells balance fate decisions between quiescence maintenance and differentiation during recovery from cancer treatment remains poorly understood. A recent study by Umemoto et al (2022) uncovers an unexpected linkage between metabolic and epigenetic regulation of haematopoiesis, suggesting new targets in haematopoietic regeneration, with possible implications in leukaemogenesis and therapy resistance

Metodologia na pesquisa epidemiológica de doenças respiratórias e poluição ambiental

There are complex and diverse methodological problems involved in the clinical and epidemiological study of respiratory diseases and their etiological factors. The association of urban growth, industrialization and environmental deterioration with respiratory diseases makes it necessary to pay more attention to this research area with a multidisciplinary approach. Appropriate study designs and statistical techniques to analyze and improve our understanding of the pathological events and their causes must be implemented to reduce the growing morbidity and mortality through better preventive actions and health programs. The objective of the article is to review the most common methodological problems in this research area and to present the most available statistical tools used.Existem problemas metodológicos diversos e complexos envolvidos no estudo clínico e epidemiológico de doenças respiratórias e seus fatores etiológicos. A associação do crescimento urbano, da industrialização e da deterioração ambiental com as doenças respiratórias torna necessário focalizar a atenção a esse campo de estudo com uma abordagem multidisciplinar. Devem ser implementados modelos de estudo e técnicas estatísticas adequadas para analisar e melhorar o entendimento sobre os eventos patológicos e suas causas e para reduzir a crescente morbimortalidade fazendo uso de medidas preventivas e melhores programas de saúde. O objetivo do artigo é revisar os problemas metodológicos mais comuns nessa área de pesquisa e apresentar os métodos estatísticos usados de maior acesso