Cell Lineage Affiliation During Hematopoiesis

By the mid-1960s hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) were well described and they generate perhaps the most complex array of functionally mature cells in an adult organism. HSCs and their descendants have been studied extensively, and findings have provided principles that have been applied to the development of many cell systems. However, there are uncertainties about the process of HSC development. They center around when and how HSCs become affiliated to a single cell lineage. A longstanding view is that this occurs late in development and stepwise via a series of committed oligopotent progenitor cells which eventually give rise to unipotent progenitors. A very different view is that lineage affiliation can occur as early as within HSCs and the development of these cells to a mature end cell is then a continuous process. A key consideration is the extent to which lineage affiliated HSCs self-renew, to make a major contribution to hematopoiesis. This review examines the above aspects to our understanding of hematopoiesis.