Blood stem cells produce all blood cell types throughout life, including red blood cells that transport oxygen throughout our body and white blood cells called lymphocytes that help us fight infections. New research using cutting-edge single cell technologies reveals that the regulation of the balance between red and white blood cell production, already occurs within the blood stem cell compartment and not later on as originally thought. In a study published in Nature Communications, the Laurenti Lab identified a novel subtype of long-lived blood stem cells that cannot produce red blood cells, but only produce lymphocytes. This cell type is likely play a role during ageing and in the development of blood cancers, where the production of all mature blood cell types is highly imbalanced.
