Adult hematopoietic stem cells lacking Hif-1α self-renew normally

M Vukovic, C Sepulveda, C Subramani… - Blood, The Journal …, 2016 - ashpublications.org
M Vukovic, C Sepulveda, C Subramani, AV Guitart, J Mohr, L Allen, TI Panagopoulou…
Blood, The Journal of the American Society of Hematology, 2016ashpublications.org
The hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) pool is maintained under hypoxic conditions within the
bone marrow microenvironment. Cellular responses to hypoxia are largely mediated by the
hypoxia-inducible factors, Hif-1 and Hif-2. The oxygen-regulated α subunits of Hif-1 and Hif-
2 (namely, Hif-1α and Hif-2α) form dimers with their stably expressed β subunits and control
the transcription of downstream hypoxia-responsive genes to facilitate adaptation to low
oxygen tension. An initial study concluded that Hif-1α is essential for HSC maintenance …
Abstract
The hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) pool is maintained under hypoxic conditions within the bone marrow microenvironment. Cellular responses to hypoxia are largely mediated by the hypoxia-inducible factors, Hif-1 and Hif-2. The oxygen-regulated α subunits of Hif-1 and Hif-2 (namely, Hif-1α and Hif-2α) form dimers with their stably expressed β subunits and control the transcription of downstream hypoxia-responsive genes to facilitate adaptation to low oxygen tension. An initial study concluded that Hif-1α is essential for HSC maintenance, whereby Hif-1α–deficient HSCs lost their ability to self-renew in serial transplantation assays. In another study, we demonstrated that Hif-2α is dispensable for cell-autonomous HSC maintenance, both under steady-state conditions and following transplantation. Given these unexpected findings, we set out to revisit the role of Hif-1α in cell-autonomous HSC functions. Here we demonstrate that inducible acute deletion of Hif-1α has no impact on HSC survival. Notably, unstressed HSCs lacking Hif-1α efficiently self-renew and sustain long-term multilineage hematopoiesis upon serial transplantation. Finally, Hif-1α–deficient HSCs recover normally after hematopoietic injury induced by serial administration of 5-fluorouracil. We therefore conclude that despite the hypoxic nature of the bone marrow microenvironment, Hif-1α is dispensable for cell-autonomous HSC maintenance.
ashpublications.org