Stress-protecting harbors for hematopoietic stem cells

Abstract

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) rely on specialized microenvironments known as niches to maintain their self-renewal and multilineage potential to generate diverse types of blood cells continuously. Over the last two decades, substantial advancements have been made in unraveling the niche cell components and HSC localizations under homeostatic and stressed circumstances. Advances in imaging, combined with the discovery of phenotypic surface markers combinations and single cell sequencing, have greatly facilitated the systematic examination of HSC localizations. This review aims to present a summary of HSC localizations, highlighting potential distinctions between phenotypically and functionally defined HSCs, and explore the functionality of niches in ensuring the integrity and long-term maintenance of HSCs.