B-cell leukemia transdifferentiation to macrophage involves reconfiguration of DNA methylation for long-range regulation

Abstract

Hematopoiesis is a highly regulated process that, starting from hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) with self-renewal capacity in the adult human bone marrow, is able to generate all different types of mature blood cells. The classical view of hematopoiesis defines binary branching points from these HSCs that segregate lineages and direct differentiation to terminally differentiated functional cell types [1]. However, the described hierarchical model can be complemented with the emerging data that suggest the existence of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells with a continuum of transitory differentiation stages, including cells with early lineage priming that generate distinct blood cell types according to the physiological or pathological environment [2]