Fateful Regulator — Researchers led by postdoctoral fellow Dr. Britta Will and her mentor, Dr. Ulrich Steidl, have identified a new critical regulator of hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) fate called Satb1, a protein that has been linked to several types of cancer. HSCs are precursor blood cells that have the ability to mature into specialized cell types. They are guided by various factors within the cell to either commit to a particular cell lineage (differentiation commitment) or to maintain their immature form (self-renewal). Although individual molecular mechanisms underlying each of these two opposing cell fates are understood, until recently, how they are coordinated has remained elusive. By studying stem cells lacking Satb1, the research team was able to show that the protein indeed coordinates the two processes: Satb1 regulates self-renewal by simultaneously promoting quiescence (halting cell division) and by repressing differentiation commitment. The findings appear in the April 7 issue of Nature Immunology. Dr. Steidl is assistant professor of cell biology and of medicine (oncology).
Posted on: Friday, April 26, 2013