Sex hormone drives blood stem cell reproduction

Abstract

Stem cells ensure the maintenance of tissue homeostasis throughout life by tightly regulating their self-renewal and differentiation. In a recent study published in Nature, Nakada et al, 2014 unveil an unexpected endocrine mechanism that regulates hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) self-renewal. Although stem cells are normally under paracrine control, self-renewal of hematopoietic stem cells in females is influenced by long-range signals via estrogen. © 2014 The Authors.