据路透社4月19日消息，美国科学家进行的一项最新研究确定了一种名为Zfx的重要基因，它能够引导胚胎干细胞和成体干细胞进行自我保持（self-renewal）。该成果在医疗方面将具有广泛的应用价值，相关论文发表在4月19日的《细胞》杂志上。
干细胞具有分化成多种组织和细胞类型的能力，这使得它们对组织修复等医学治疗至关重要。干细胞的这种分化能力就缘于它们的自我保持，在实验室中，科学家可以使干细胞生长繁殖几个月甚至数年，而不分化成特定类型的细胞和组织。
领导该研究的是美国哥伦比亚大学医学研究中心的Boris Reizis，通过对小鼠细胞的研究，他们发现了Zfx基因控制着胚胎干细胞和成体造血干细胞的自我保持。
Reizis表示，人体中Zfx基因的作用很可能与在小鼠体内类似。这一发现加深了科学家对干细胞的认识，尽管干细胞分为各种不同的类型，但它们具有至少一项共同特征——Zfx基因。
长期以来，就胚胎干细胞和成体干细胞是否具有共同的分子基础这一问题，科学家一直存在争论。Reizis表示，最新的发现的Zfx基因证实了这一共同的分子基础确实存在。这无疑将对未来干细胞治疗具有重要意义。
原始出处:
Cell, Vol 129, 345-357, 20 April 2007
Article
Zfx Controls the Self-Renewal of Embryonic and Hematopoietic Stem Cells
Jose M. Galan-Caridad,1,4 Sivan Harel,1,4 Teresita L. Arenzana,1 Z. Esther Hou,1 Fiona K. Doetsch,2 Leonid A. Mirny,3 and Boris Reizis1,
1 Department of Microbiology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, USA
2 Department of Pathology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, USA
3 Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
Corresponding author
Boris Reizis
bvr2101@columbia.edu
Stem cells (SC) exhibit a unique capacity for self-renewal in an undifferentiated state. It is unclear whether the self-renewal of pluripotent embryonic SC (ESC) and of tissue-specific adult SC such as hematopoietic SC (HSC) is controlled by common mechanisms. The deletion of transcription factor Zfx impaired the self-renewal but not the differentiation capacity of murine ESC; conversely, Zfx overexpression facilitated ESC self-renewal by opposing differentiation. Furthermore, Zfx deletion abolished the maintenance of adult HSC but did not affect erythromyeloid progenitors or fetal HSC. Zfx-deficient ESC and HSC showed increased apoptosis and SC-specific upregulation of stress-inducible genes. Zfx directly activated common target genes in ESC and HSC, as well as ESC-specific target genes including ESC self-renewal regulators Tbx3 and Tcl1. These studies identify Zfx as a shared transcriptional regulator of ESC and HSC, suggesting a common genetic basis of self-renewal in embryonic and adult SC.
英文全文链接：http://download.cell.com/pdfs/0092-8674/PIIS009286740700339X.pdf
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