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MINI REVIEW article

Front. Hematol.
Sec. Hematopoiesis and Stem Cells
Volume 4 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/frhem.2025.1525132
This article is part of the Research Topic Niche Contributions to Clonal Expansion View all 3 articles

The aging hematopoietic stem cell niche: a mini review

Provisionally accepted
Xin Gao Xin Gao *Jing Zhang Jing Zhang *Owen James Tamplin Owen James Tamplin *
  • University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) undergo a functional decline during aging. The intrinsic characteristics of aged HSCs have been well-described and include a strong myeloid bias, an increase in total number, and a decrease in functionality during transplantation. The impact of the aged bone marrow microenvironment, or niche, on HSCs is less well understood. It is critical to understand the changing condition of the niche during aging, and its ability to support HSCs, as this could reveal the very signals and mechanisms needed to improve HSC fitness. Furthermore, heterochronic transplantation provides an approach to test the influence of an aged recipient niche on young donor HSCs, and conversely, of a young recipient niche on aged donor HSCs. Importantly, these experiments demonstrated that donor HSC engraftment is reduced if the recipient niche is aged, and conversely, the young niche can rejuvenate aged donor HSCs. Here we will focus on the interactions between aged HSCs and their microenvironment. We will highlight current controversies, research gaps, and future directions.

    Keywords: Aging, Stem Cells, niche, Inflammation, microenvironment (Min.5-Max. 8

    Received: 08 Nov 2024; Accepted: 02 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Gao, Zhang and Tamplin. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Xin Gao, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, United States
    Jing Zhang, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, United States
    Owen James Tamplin, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.