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Quiescent hematopoietic stem cells accumulate DNA damage during aging that is repaired upon entry into cell cycle.

ABSTRACT: Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) maintain homeostasis and regenerate the blood system throughout life. It has been postulated that HSCs may be uniquely capable of preserving their genomic integrity in order to ensure lifelong function. To directly test this, we quantified DNA damage in HSCs and downstream progenitors from young and old mice, revealing that strand breaks significantly accrue in HSCs during aging. DNA damage accumulation in HSCs was associated with broad attenuation of DNA repair and response pathways that was dependent upon HSC quiescence. Accordingly, cycling fetal HSCs and adult HSCs driven into cycle upregulated these pathways leading to repair of strand breaks. Our results demonstrate that HSCs are not comprehensively geno-protected during aging. Rather, HSC quiescence and concomitant attenuation of DNA repair and response pathways underlies DNA damage accumulation in HSCs during aging. These results provide a potential mechanism through which premalignant mutations accrue in HSCs.

SUBMITTER: Beerman I

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4082747 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Quiescent hematopoietic stem cells accumulate DNA damage during aging that is repaired upon entry into cell cycle.

Beerman Isabel I Seita Jun J Inlay Matthew A MA Weissman Irving L IL Rossi Derrick J DJ

Cell stem cell 20140508 1

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) maintain homeostasis and regenerate the blood system throughout life. It has been postulated that HSCs may be uniquely capable of preserving their genomic integrity in order to ensure lifelong function. To directly test this, we quantified DNA damage in HSCs and downstream progenitors from young and old mice, revealing that strand breaks significantly accrue in HSCs during aging. DNA damage accumulation in HSCs was associated with broad attenuation of DNA repair a ...[more]

PMID: 24813857

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Project description:BackgroundAccumulation of DNA damage leading to adult stem cell exhaustion has been proposed to be a principal mechanism of aging. Here we tested this hypothesis in healthy individuals of different ages by examining unrepaired DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) in hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells matured in their physiological microenvironment.Methodology/principal findingsTo asses DNA damage accumulation and repair capacities, ?H2AX-foci were examined before and after exposure to ionizing irradiation. Analyzing CD34+ and CD34- stem/progenitor cells we observed an increase of endogenous ?H2AX-foci levels with advancing donor age, associated with an age-related decline in telomere length. Using combined immunofluorescence and telomere-fluorescence in-situ hybridization we show that ?H2AX-foci co-localize consistently with other repair factors such as pATM, MDC1 and 53BP1, but not significantly with telomeres, strongly supporting the telomere-independent origin for the majority of foci. The highest inter-individual variations for non-telomeric DNA damage were observed in middle-aged donors, whereas the individual DSB repair capacity appears to determine the extent of DNA damage accrual. However, analyzing different stem/progenitor subpopulations obtained from healthy elderly (>70 years), we observed an only modest increase in DNA damage accrual, most pronounced in the primitive CD34+CD38(-)-enriched subfraction, but sustained DNA repair efficiencies, suggesting that healthy lifestyle may slow down the natural aging process.Conclusions/significanceBased on these findings we conclude that age-related non-telomeric DNA damage accrual accompanies physiological stem cell aging in humans. Moreover, aging may alter the functional capacity of human stem cells to repair DSBs, thereby deteriorating an important genome protection mechanism leading to exceeding DNA damage accumulation. However, the great inter-individual variations in middle-aged individuals suggest that additional cell-intrinsic mechanisms and/or extrinsic factors contribute to the age-associated DNA damage accumulation.

Dataset Information

Quiescent hematopoietic stem cells accumulate DNA damage during aging that is repaired upon entry into cell cycle.

Publications

Quiescent hematopoietic stem cells accumulate DNA damage during aging that is repaired upon entry into cell cycle.

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