Attenuation of miR-126 activity expands HSC in vivo without exhaustion

ABSTRACT: Life-long blood cell production is governed through the poorly understood integration of cell-intrinsic and -extrinsic control of hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) quiescence and activation. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) coordinately regulate multiple targets within signaling networks making them attractive candidate HSC regulators. We report that miR-126, a miRNA expressed in HSC and early progenitors, plays a pivotal role in restraining cell cycle progression of HSC in vitro and in vivo. miR-126 knockdown using lentiviral sponges increased HSC proliferation without inducing exhaustion, resulting in expansion of mouse and human long-term repopulating HSC. Conversely, enforced miR-126 expression impaired cell cycle entry leading to progressively reduced hematopoietic contribution. In HSC/early progenitors, miR-126 regulates multiple targets within the PI3K/AKT/GSK3β pathway thus attenuating signal transduction in response to extrinsic signals. These data establish that miR-126 sets a threshold for HSC activation and thus governs HSC pool size, demonstrating the importance of miRNA in the control of HSC function. Total RNA was extracted from cord blood Lin- cells and treated with mir126 shRNA or mir126 containing viral particles (and corresponding controls)

ORGANISM(S): Homo sapiens

SUBMITTER: John Dick 

PROVIDER: E-GEOD-40458 | biostudies-arrayexpress |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-arrayexpress