Wt1 is not essential for hematopoiesis in the mouse.
WT1 has been implicated in human leukemia and hematopoiesis, but its role in stem cell differentiation is not yet fully defined. We show that Wt1-null murine fetal liver cells are capable of reconstituting functional hematopoiesis following transplantation into irradiated recipients. There was also no significant difference between the in vitro colony-forming ability of wild-type and Wt1-null cells. Using a reporter gene assay in a transgenic mouse system, expression from the WT1 promoter was detectable in adult bone marrow, but undetectable in subsets of different hematopoietic cells. We conclude that Wt1 is not essential for murine hematopoiesis and that there may be significant differences in its role between mouse and man.
King-Underwood
Linda
L
Section of Paediatric Oncology, Institute of Cancer Research, 15 Cotswold Road, Belmont, Sutton, Surrey SM2 5NG, UK.
Little
Suzanne
S
Baker
Mandy
M
Clutterbuck
Robyn
R
Delassus
Sylvie
S
Enver
Tariq
T
Lebozer
Clive
C
Min
Toon
T
Moore
Adrian
A
Schedl
Andreas
A
Pritchard-Jones
Kathy
K
D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology; D003114:Colony-Forming Units Assay; D006410:Hematopoiesis / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D025721:WT1 Proteins / Q000172:deficiency / Q000235:genetics*
D025721:WT1 Proteins