Characterization of putative regulators of hematopoietic cell physiology

所有的血细胞都来源于一种独特的细胞类型：造血干细胞。当干细胞分裂成两个子细胞时，其中一个子细胞将作为干细胞存在，另一个子细胞将遵循分化的路径成为红或白色血细胞或血小板。虽然分化的细胞通常是短命的，但干细胞是长寿的，并在生物体的整个生命周期中持续存在，并确保血细胞的不断更新。同样，T淋巴细胞是长寿的白色血细胞，保护机体免受感染。对于记忆T细胞来说尤其如此，它们“记住”过去的感染，如果生物体在几年或几十年后面临同样的感染，它们可以产生有效的免疫反应。控制干细胞和T淋巴细胞长寿命的机制仍然是未知的，但似乎是通过同一组基因的表达来运作的。我们已经确定了几个可能与干细胞和T淋巴细胞的维持有关的基因。该项目旨在描述这些基因之一pou6f1的功能。在血液系统中，干细胞或T淋巴细胞持续存在的改变可能对血细胞更新和免疫力产生严重后果。此外，细胞命运的调节是生物学中的一个中心问题，我们的工作可能与血液系统以外的其他细胞类型的功能有关。

All blood cells are derived from a unique type of cells; the hematopoietic stem cells. When a stem cell divides in two daughter cells, one of the daughter cell will persist as a stem cell and the other will follow a path of differentiation to become red or white blood cells or platelets. While differentiated cells are usually short-lived, stem cells are long-lived and persist for the entire lifespan of the organism and insure the constant renewal of blood cells. Likewise, T lymphocytes are long-lived white blood cells that protect the organism against infections. This is especially true for memory T cells that "remember" past infections and can mount an efficient immune response if the organism is confronted to the same infections years or decades later. The mechanisms that control the long life span of stem cell and T-lymphocytes are still unknown, but appear to operate through the expression of the same set of genes. We have identified several genes that could be related to the maintenance of stem cells and T-lymphocytes. This project aims at characterizing the function of one of these genes, pou6f1. In the blood system, alterations in the persistence of stem cells or T-lymphocytes can have serious consequences on blood cell renewal and immunity. Moreover, the regulation of cell fates is a central question in biology and our work could be relevant to the functioning of other cell types, outside of the blood system.