# Molecular Mechanisms of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Development

> **NIH NIH R03** · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · 2020 · $114,750

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are undifferentiated, long-lived cells that give rise to lineage-specific
progenitors and retain their stem cell identity by undergoing self-renewal. HSCs have been widely used in
transplantation to treat patients with hematologic cancers, solid tumors and autoimmune diseases, and are
also promising cell targets for gene therapies that can potentially treat a broad variety of human diseases.
However, development of these important clinical applications of HSCs is severely hampered by the difficulty in
expanding these cells due to the lack of understanding of the intracellular and extracellular signals that govern
HSC fates for repopulation, differentiation and quiescence. Yin Yang (YY1) is a ubiquitous transcription factor
and mammalian Polycomb Group Protein (PcG) with important functions that regulate embryonic development,
lineage differentiation, and cell proliferation. Our studies showed that YY1 is a unique stem cell promoting
factor as high YY1 expression plays a double-edged sword by expanding HSCs while decreasing B cells in
vivo. Thus, targeting YY1 may lead into great therapeutic potential by increasing bone marrow transplant
efficiency and by decreasing transplant rejection. Our studies showed that YY1 occupies promoter and
enhancer sequences and activates Kit, the gene encoding for the key receptor tyrosine kinase for HSC
quiescence. YY1 is a critical regulator of cohesin expression in hematopoietic stem progenitor cells, and YY1
plays a critical role in HSC self-renewal and differentiation. Herein, we will further elucidate the molecular
mechanisms by which YY1 promotes HSC self-renewal. We will determine whether YY1 promotes HSC
activities through control of the Kit locus, and/or through its regulation of the key chromosome structural
maintenance complex, cohesin. The work proposed here is a direct extension of work carried out in my
SERCA K01 studies. The proposal will provide foundational data on mechanisms governing HSC function and
may lead to paradigm-shifting models on the general, as well as specific control of chromatin structure by YY1.
These studies will generate key mouse models and molecular insights to drive a future hypothesis-driven
R01 application focusing on the control of high-order chromosome structure in HSC biology and the impact of
YY1 regulation of cohesin in malignant hematopoiesis. Given the need to develop more effective strategies to
expand HSCs in therapeutic contexts, elucidating the molecular mechanisms of YY1 regulation of HSCs will be
highly significant.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9841470
- **Project number:** 5R03OD026603-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON
- **Principal Investigator:** XUAN PAN
- **Activity code:** R03 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $114,750
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-01-01 → 2020-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9841470

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9841470, Molecular Mechanisms of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Development (5R03OD026603-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9841470. Licensed CC0.

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