Autophagy in the hematopoietic system

Autophagy is essential in determining cell fate in hematopoietic cells. Firstly the removal of mitochondria from erythroblasts allows survival and their final maturation step into mature red blood cells. Secondly autophagy is essential to strike the fine balance between quiescence, self-renewal, and differentiation of hematopoietic stem cells. Thirdly declining levels of autophagy in ageing macrophages contributes to senescent features. And lastly we have shown that memory T cells, the cells that mediate long-term protection after vaccination, cannot form in the absence of autophagy as they fail to undergo a necessary metabolic switch. We have also established different ways to detect autophagy in primary immune cells and rare stem cells using the ImageStream^® imaging flow cytometer and traditional flow cytometry. With these techniques we have been able to contribute to the description of the first immune deficiencies in which the autophagy/lysoosomal pathway seems to be involved.

In the long term, understanding molecular mechanisms that can manipulate cell fate of hematological stem cells and their progeny will be essential in the context of hematological malignancies, regenerative medicine and immune responses.

In this webcast you will learn:

• How autophagy influences hematopoietic cell survival and cell fate.
• How autophagy prevents senescence in the immune system.
• The best ways to measure autophagy in primary cells.
   

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