Advances on Hematopoietic Microenvironment Based on Single-Cell Transcriptomic Analysis
LI Xialin, DONG Fang*, EMA Hideo*
Adult HSC (hematopoietic stem cell) mainly resides in bone marrow and has the potential of self-renewal and multi-lineage differentiation. HSC is responsible for lifelong production of all blood lineages in response to the rapidly changing demands of the organism. The maintenance of HSC is orchestrated not only by intrinsic programs but also extrinsic signals from the hematopoietic microenvironment or niche. Therefore, the study of niche is of great significance to reveal the regulatory mechanism of steady-state and abnormal hematopoiesis, as well as explore novel strategies for HSC ex vivo expansion. Multiple cellular and molecular components of the niche have been identified by previous studies using imaging and cell type-specific gene knockout techniques. However, as a complex three-dimensional system, there is an ongoing debate as to the specification and localization of the niche cells and the role of the niche during homeostasis and stress. Recently, much progress has been made in single-cell technology, which allows to clarify the cellular and molecular heterogeneity with unprecedented resolution and opens a new chapter for niche study. This review focuses on the major findings in analysis of bone marrow niche by single-cell RNA sequencing.
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