A perisinusoidal niche for extramedullary haematopoiesis in the spleen

Christopher N. Inra, Bo O. Zhou, Melih Acar, Malea M. Murphy, James Richardson, Zhiyu Zhao, Sean J. Morrison

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

179 Scopus citations

Abstract

Haematopoietic stresses mobilize haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) from the bone marrow to the spleen and induce extramedullary haematopoiesis (EMH). However, the cellular nature of the EMH niche is unknown. Here we assessed the sources of the key niche factors, SCF (also known as KITL) and CXCL12, in the mouse spleen after EMH induction by myeloablation, blood loss, or pregnancy. In each case, Scf was expressed by endothelial cells and Tcf21 + stromal cells, primarily around sinusoids in the red pulp, while Cxcl12 was expressed by a subset of Tcf21 + stromal cells. EMH induction markedly expanded the Scf-expressing endothelial cells and stromal cells by inducing proliferation. Most splenic HSCs were adjacent to Tcf21 + stromal cells in red pulp. Conditional deletion of Scf from spleen endothelial cells, or of Scf or Cxcl12 from Tcf21+ stromal cells, severely reduced spleen EMH and reduced blood cell counts without affecting bone marrow haematopoiesis. Endothelial cells and Tcf21 + stromal cells thus create a perisinusoidal EMH niche in the spleen, which is necessary for the physiological response to diverse haematopoietic stresses.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)466-471
Number of pages6
JournalNature
Volume527
Issue number7579
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 26 2015

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General

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