title: [Regulatory role of HOXB4 in self-renewal of hematopoietic stem cells - review].
abstract: Self-renewal and multilineage differentiation of hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) are their functional characteristics. The regulation of HSC self-renewal is governed by a balance between positive regulatory signals promoting growth and negative regulatory signals resulting in apoptosis. Among the positive regulatory signals, HOXB4 activates distinct pathways that enhance self-renewal divisions of HSC without overriding the regulatory mechanisms that maintain normal steady-state hemopoiesis. The upregulation of HOXB4 gene expression can greatly promote the HSC self-renewal, but does not affect the HSC differentiation, the morphology and function of linage-specific cells and terminally-differentiated blood cells. Furthermore, HOXB4 can enhance the hematopoietic potential of embryonic stem cell (ESC), promoting the differentiation of ESC into hematopoietic cells. As a consequence, upregulation of HOXB4 expression and/or corresponding HOXB4 target genes can have enormous therapeutical potential for human HSC in the stem cell transplantation and gene therapy. In this review the regulatory role of HOXB4 in HSC self-renewal, "zero" effect of HOXB4 on differentiation specificity of HSC lines and terminal differentiation cells, and molecular mechanisms of regulating HSC self-renewal by HOXB4 are summarised.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Experimental Hematology, Institute of Hematology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Tianjin 300020, China.
authors.forename: Cui-Ling
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000235:genetics*; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000235:genetics; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: C090460:HOXB4 protein, human; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; C513262:Hoxb4 protein, mouse; D014157:Transcription Factors