Sepsis modulates the human hematopoietic stem cell compartment in peripheral blood and bone marrow

Excerpt

Efficient fight with infection requires robust production of immunocompetent cells. This response is called emergency hematopoiesis and depends on the proliferation of progenitor cells and awakening dormant hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) into cycling. As during sepsis an altered immune system is often observed, it seems important to reveal the impact of this syndrome on HSCs. Recent discoveries have shown that HSCs circulate in the peripheral blood and may boost local immune response via paracrine mechanisms and differentiation into myeloid cells. Altogether, these rationales led us to investigate the circulating HSCs in septic patients and in the bone marrow (BM) of septic 'humanized mice' transplanted earlier with human HSCs. …