CD24 expressed by cells of hematopoietic origin and not cells in stromal compartments is required for extramedullary stress erythropoiesis following in vivo CD24 engagement
This could represent a significant step forward in the battle against anemia, benefitting people with diabetes, kidney disease or cancer, and older people for whom anemia can become a chronic problem. While more work needs to be done before the method could be used in people, the possibilities are tantalizing.
Eg it could allow doctors to turn on red blood cell production whenever necessary;
~be used on the battlefield to triage wounded soldiers until they could receive a blood transfusion; and
~be used to treat people who cannot receive blood transfusions because of religious beliefs.
Note: Anemia is the most common blood disorder. People with anemia often experience fatigue and lack energy because their cells aren’t getting enough oxygen. There are many causes, including iron deficiency, vitamin deficiencies and diseases such as kidney disease and cancer. Anemia is particularly prevalent in older adults.
Thomas J. Braciale, MD, PhD, and his team members were looking into the role of dendritic cells in the lungs. Dendritic cells have traditionally been thought to be sensors of infection and inflammation, but a lab test involving the flu virus produced a bizarre effect in mice that ultimately revealed an entirely new aspect to the cells’ function.
Conventional DCs are essential for CD24-mediated extramedullary stress erythropoiesis in vivo.
After injecting mice with the flu virus and an antibody that blocked a certain molecule expressed by dendritic cells, the mice’s spleens enlarged massively. They also injected the antibody without flu injecting the mice. Giant spleens >> they had induced stress erythropoiesis (when the body produces red blood cells because of injury or other stress). In discovering an unexpected molecular trigger for the process, Braciale had found a switch he could flip to prompt red blood cell production.
“In the very basic way, what we’ve discovered is that the process of regulating stress in the body is mediated – certainly in part, at least – by these dendritic cells,” he explained. “And stress can be a variety of different stresses. It doesn’t have to be infection, it doesn’t have to be inflammation. It can be anemia. It can be hemorrhage. And these cells act to initiate this response that, until this report, there’s been really no evidence that these [dendritic] cells ever participate in making red blood cells.”
“We’re very excited to see where this goes. We know that the same things can be done in humans in the following sense. There are mice called humanized mice. These are mice that are engineered so they have a human blood system. And if you inject these mice with this antibody, they’ll make red blood cells.” https://www.jci.org/articles/view/81919 Â http://newsroom.uvahealth.com/about/news-room/archives/anemia-baffling-lab-mystery-leads-to-major-red-blood-cell-discovery
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