The orphan nuclear receptor NR4A1 specifies a distinct subpopulation of quiescent myeloid-biased long-term HSCs

RH Land, AK Rayne, AN Vanderbeck, TS Barlowe… - Stem Cells, 2015 - academic.oup.com
RH Land, AK Rayne, AN Vanderbeck, TS Barlowe, S Manjunath, M Gross, S Eiger, PS Klein
Stem Cells, 2015academic.oup.com
Hematopoiesis is maintained throughout life by self-renewing hematopoietic stem cells
(HSCs) that differentiate to produce both myeloid and lymphoid cells. The NR4A family of
orphan nuclear receptors, which regulates cell fate in many tissues, appears to play a key
role in HSC proliferation and differentiation. Using a NR4A1GFP BAC transgenic reporter
mouse we have investigated NR4A1 expression and its regulation in early hematopoiesis.
We show that NR4A1 is most highly expressed in a subset of Lin− Sca-1+ c-Kit+ CD48 …
Abstract
Hematopoiesis is maintained throughout life by self-renewing hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) that differentiate to produce both myeloid and lymphoid cells. The NR4A family of orphan nuclear receptors, which regulates cell fate in many tissues, appears to play a key role in HSC proliferation and differentiation. Using a NR4A1GFP BAC transgenic reporter mouse we have investigated NR4A1 expression and its regulation in early hematopoiesis. We show that NR4A1 is most highly expressed in a subset of LinSca-1+c-Kit+ CD48CD150+ long-term (LT) HSCs, and its expression is tightly associated with HSC quiescence. We also show that NR4A1 expression in HSCs is induced by PGE2, a known enhancer of stem cell engraftment potential. Finally, we find that both NR4A1GFP+ and NR4A1GFP− HSCs successfully engraft primary and secondary irradiated hosts; however, NR4A1GFP+ HSCs are distinctly myeloid-biased. These results show that NR4A1 expression identifies a highly quiescent and distinct population of myeloid-biased LT-HSCs. Stem Cells  2015;33:278–288
Oxford University Press