Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a principal regulator of blood vessel formation and haematopoiesis, but the mechanisms by which VEGF differentially regulates these processes have been elusive. Here we describe a regulatory loop by which VEGF controls survival of haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). We observed a reduction in survival, colony formation and in vivo repopulation rates of HSCs after ablation of the VEGF gene in mice. Intracellularly acting small-molecule inhibitors of VEGF receptor (VEGFR) tyrosine kinase dramatically reduced colony formation of HSCs, thus mimicking deletion of the VEGF gene. However, blocking VEGF by administering a soluble VEGFR-1, which acts extracellularly, induced only minor effects. These findings support the involvement in HSC survival of a VEGF-dependent internal autocrine loop mechanism (that is, the mechanism is resistant to inhibitors that fail to penetrate the intracellular compartment). Not only ligands selective for VEGF and VEGFR-2 but also VEGFR-1 agonists rescued survival and repopulation of VEGF-deficient HSCs, revealing a function for VEGFR-1 signalling during haematopoiesis.

We have discovered that leptin and its cognate receptor constitute a novel hematopoietic pathway that is required for normal lymphopoiesis. This pathway seems to act at the level of the hematopoietic stem/progenitor cell, and may well also impact upon erythropoiesis, particularly in anemic states that may require output from the spleen. These findings offer a new perspective on the role of the fat cell in hematopoiesis.

Recently, several lines of evidence have indicated an expanded role for thrombopoietin (TPO) and its receptor, c-mpl, in hematopoiesis. In addition to being the primary physiological regulator of platelet production, it is now apparent that TPO also acts during early hematopoiesis. To futher define the role of TPO in early hematopoiesis we have identified discrete murine and human stem cell populations with respect to c-mpl expression and evaluated their potential for hematopoietic engraftment. Fluorescence-activated cell sorter analysis of enriched stem cell populations showed the presence of c-mpl expressing subpopulations. Approximately 50% of the murine fetal liver stem cell–enriched population, AA4+Sca+c-kit+, expressed c-mpl. Analysis of the murine marrow stem cell population LinloSca+c-kit+ showed that 70% of this population expressed c-mpl. Expression of c-mpl was also detected within the human bone marrow CD34+CD38− stem cell progenitor pool and approximately 70% of that population expressed c-mpl. To rigorously evaluate the role of TPO/c-mpl in early hematopoiesis we compared the repopulation capacity of murine stem cell populations with respect to c-mpl expression in a competitive repopulation assay. When comparing the fetal liver progenitor populations, AA4+Sca+c-kit+c-mpl+and AA4+Sca+c-kit+c-mpl−, we found that stem cell activity segregates with c-mpl expression. This result is complemented by the observation that the LinloSca+ population of c-mplgene-deficient mice was sevenfold less potent than LinloSca+ cells from wild-type mice in repopulating activity. The engraftment potential of the human CD34+CD38−c-mpl+ population was evaluated in a severe combined immunodeficient-human bone model. In comparison to the CD34+CD38−c-mpl− population, the CD34+CD38−c-mpl+ cells showed significantly better engraftment. These results demonstrate a physiological role for TPO and its receptor, c-mpl, in regulating early hematopoiesis.

The microenvironment is a key regulator of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and is a likely source of extracellular factors that control stem cell fate. A better understanding of these microenvironmental factors may come from investigations of developmental cell fate determination in which the critical roles of cell-cell interactions of multipotential cells have been shown. The Wnt gene family is known to regulate the cell fate and cell-cell interactions of multipotential cells in a variety of tissues. Expression of Wnts and of their putative receptors encoded by murine homologs of the Drosophila frizzled gene in hematopoietic tissues was examined by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. Wnt-5a and Wnt-10b were expressed in day-11 murine yolk sac, day-14 fetal liver, and fetal liver AA4+ cells. The expression profiles of four murine frizzled homologs, Mfz3-7, were nearly identical to that of Wnt-5a and Wnt-10b. Notably, Wnt-10b was expressed in the fetal liver AA4+ Sca+ c-kit+ (flASK) HSC population. A role for Wnts in HSC fate determination was studied by treatment of HSC populations in culture with soluble WNT proteins. The addition of conditioned media from cells transfected with Wnt-1, Wnt-5a, or Wnt-10b cDNAs to cultures of flASK cells stimulated a sevenfold, eightfold, and 11-fold expansion in cell number, respectively, relative to control media. Removal of WNT-5a from this media by immunodepletion depleted the stimulatory activity from the media, whereas addition of a partially purified WNT-5a stimulated a fivefold expansion relative to control cells. Transduction of flASK cells with a retrovirus bearing a Wnt-5a cDNA enhanced proliferation. We conclude that WNTs stimulate the survival/proliferation of hematopoietic progenitors, demonstrating that WNTs comprise a novel class of hematopoietic cell regulators.