Epigenetic regulators of haematopoietic stem cells and their role in clonal haematopoiesis and aging

Elspeth Payne (primary)
UCL Cancer Institute
University College London
Kevin Bryson (secondary)
Computer Science
UCL

Abstract

Age related clonal haematopoiesis (ARCH) is a recently described entity where clonal populations of cells can be identified in blood. This occurs as part of the normal ageing process and affects 50% of individuals over the age of 80. These populations of cells are driven by mutations in epigenetic regulators and their presence confers an increase in mortality, mainly from stroke, cardiovascular disease and cancer. The purpose of this project is to model the evolution of ARCH using zebrafish to understand how such populations evolve over time, their effects on blood development and how this may disrupt normal haematopoietic homeostasis.


References

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Henninger J, et al Clonal fate mapping quantifies the number of haematopoietic stem cells that arise during development. Nat Cell Biol. 2017 Jan;19(1):17–27.
Fuster JJ, et al. Clonal hematopoiesis associated with Tet2 deficiency accelerates atherosclerosis development in mice. Science.; 2017 Jan 19;:eaag1381.


BBSRC Area
Genes, development and STEM* approaches to biology
Area of Biology
AgeingGenetics
Techniques & Approaches
GeneticsMathematics / StatisticsMolecular BiologySimulation / Modelling