The complex cartography of stem cell commitment.
In this issue of Cell, a study by Adolfsson and coworkers (Adolfsson et al., 2005) provides insight into the early lineage commitment events of multipotent hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). These studies demonstrate the importance of the Flt3 receptor tyrosine kinase as the earliest marker of hematopoietic cell fate commitment in that erythrocyte and megakaryocyte potentials are lost first as HSCs differentiate to lymphocyte progenitors.
Akashi
Koichi
K
Department of Cancer Immunology and AIDS, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
Traver
David
D
Zon
Leonard I
LI
D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology; D019070:Cell Lineage; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology*