Description
"Genetic Dissection of Haematopoietic Stem Cell Functions", Prof Kamil KrancSummary: Multipotent haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) reside in specialised niches within the bone marrow and have a unique capacity to sustain life-long multilineage haematopoiesis. HSCs face tightly orchestrated fate decisions between quiescence, self-renewal, apoptosis,and differentiation. The strict regulation of these fates is essential to maintain the HSC pool and dysregulation of the balance between these fates is a common feature of blood malignancies. Recent studies have suggested that the microenvironment harbouring stem cells exhibits lowoxygen levels but the role of hypoxia-inducible factors (Hifs; maincellular sensors of hypoxia) and their downstream targets in normal andleukaemic stem cell (LSC) functions remains to be investigated. We haveemployed loss- and gain-of-function approaches to genetically dissecthypoxia signalling pathways in normal and malignant haematopoiesis. During the talk, I will present our recent data indicating the importance of hypoxia signalling and metabolic regulators in HSCs and LSCs. We hope that the ongoing efforts focussing on dissection of these pathways will provide new therapeutic targets for LSC eradication.
| Period | 13 Nov 2013 |
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