Program in Cancer Research. Institut Mar Investigacions Mèdiques (IMIM), Hospital del Mar, Parc de Recerca Biomèdica de Barcelona, Dr. Aiguader 88, 08003, Barcelona, Spain.
Curr Top Microbiol Immunol. 2012;360:1-18. doi: 10.1007/82_2012_229.
Hematopoiesis is the process that generates all the cell types of the blood, which are responsible for oxygen transport and immune defense. It has been now more than 50 years from the demonstration that blood cells derive from a common ancestor called Hematopoietic Stem Cell (HSC) McCulloch and Till (1960). Thus, the hematopoietic process relies on the unlimited and distinctive self-renewal ability of HSC, which in the adult mammalian organisms reside in the bone marrow, but their generation occurs during embryonic life. Questions still remain about how HSCs acquire and maintain the features of self-renewal and pluripotency that define stem-cell populations. Notch is a crucial signaling pathway involved in the generation of cell diversity and stem-cell maintenance in different systems. In some cases, Notch prevents differentiation, while in other contexts Notch directly participates in promoting cell differentiation. In the following sections, we will review what is known about the role of Notch in HSC establishment and hematopoietic cell lineage specification.
造血是生成血液中所有细胞类型的过程，这些细胞负责氧气运输和免疫防御。自 McCulloch 和 Till（1960 年）证明血细胞来源于一种称为造血干细胞（HSC）的共同祖先以来，已经过去了 50 多年。因此，造血过程依赖于 HSC 的无限和独特的自我更新能力，在成年哺乳动物中，HSC 存在于骨髓中，但它们的生成发生在胚胎期。关于 HSCs 如何获得和维持自我更新和多能性的特征，这些特征定义了干细胞群体，目前仍存在一些问题。Notch 是一个关键的信号通路，涉及不同系统中细胞多样性和干细胞维持的产生。在某些情况下，Notch 阻止分化，而在其他情况下，Notch 直接参与促进细胞分化。在以下部分中，我们将回顾 Notch 在 HSC 建立和造血细胞谱系特化中的作用。
