Abstract
Stem cells are endowed with self-renewal and multipotential differentiation capacities. Contrary to the expectation that stem cells would selectively express specific genes, these cells have a highly promiscuous gene-expression pattern. Here, I suggest that the transient stem cell state, termed the 'stem state', may be assumed by any cell and that the search for specific genes expressed by all stem cells, which would characterize the stem cell as a cell type, might be futile.
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Acknowledgements
The author is supported by the Gabrielle Rich Center for Transplantation Biology and by research grants from the Minerva Foundation, Michael Krasny, Daniel and Rhonda Shapiro, Jerrald and Helene Wulff and the Isabelle and Leonard Goldenson Association. The author wishes to thank Ayelet Laron and Vered Morad for their valuable comments on the manuscript. D.Z. is an incumbent of the Joe and Celia Weinstein Professorial Chair at the Weizmann Institute of Science.
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Glossary
- CYTOKINES
-
A group of proteins that form a dynamic network of intercellular messenger molecules that regulate various aspects of physiology, including the immune response to infection.
- ENDOTHELIAL CELLS
-
Flattened cells that grow in a single layer and line blood vessels.
- G0 PHASE
-
The resting phase of the cell cycle.
- HAEMATOPOIETIC
-
Pertaining to the formation of blood and blood cells.
- MACROPHAGES
-
Phagocytic cells that respond to non-self material (for example, bacteria, protozoa or tumour cells) to release substances that stimulate other cells of the immune system. They are also involved in antigen presentation and are derived from monocytes, which circulate in the blood.
- MESENCHYME
-
Motile, loosely organized unpolarized cells that do not form firm cell–cell contacts and have a proteoglycan-rich extracellular matrix.
- MONOCYTES
-
Large white blood cells involved in the first line of immune defence and in the inflammatory process.
- STROMATA
-
Connective tissue that is made up of cells, such as fibroblasts, and matrix, such as collagen, and forms the supportive organ microenvironment
- T CELLS
-
Lymphoid-derived white blood cells that are responsible for cell-mediated immunity.
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Zipori, D. The nature of stem cells: state rather than entity. Nat Rev Genet 5, 873–878 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrg1475
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrg1475
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