title: Heparan sulfate regulation of progenitor cell fate.
abstract: Currently there is an intense effort being made to elucidate the factors that control stem and progenitor cell fate. Developments in our understanding of the FGF/FGFR pathway and its role as an effector of stem cell pluripotency have heightened expectations that a therapeutic use for stem cells will move from a possibility to a probability. Mounting evidence is revealing the molecular mechanisms by which fibroblast growth factor (FGF) signaling, together with a large number of other growth and adhesive factors, is controlled by the extracellular sugar, heparan sulfate (HS). What has resulted is a novel means of augmenting and thus regulating the growth factor control of stem and progenitor cell fate. Here, we review the numerous bioactivities of HS, and the development of strategies to implement HS-induced control of cell fate decisions.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Stem Cells and Tissue Repair, Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Proteos, 61 Biopolis Drive, Singapore 138673. scool@imcb.a-star.edu.sg
authors.forename: Simon M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Cool
authors.forename: Victor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Nurcombe
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019070:Cell Lineage / Q000187:drug effects; D006133:Growth Substances / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D006497:Heparan Sulfate / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans; D010641:Phenotype; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D006133:Growth Substances; D006497:Heparan Sulfate