近日，中国医学科学院周家喜、刘兵、石莉红等研究人员合作解析人类巨核细胞的发育过程。这一研究成果于2020年12月18日在线发表在《细胞—干细胞》杂志上。

通过使用来自卵黄囊（YS）和胎儿肝（FL）的人类早期巨核细胞（MK）单细胞RNA测序，研究人员表征了早期巨核细胞生成的转录组、细胞异质性和发育轨迹。在YS和FL中，研究人员发现异质MK亚群具有独特的发育途径和基因表达模式，可以反映早期的功能分化。有趣的是，研究人员在体内鉴定了一个CD42b⁺CD14⁺MK亚群，该亚群显示出免疫反应相关基因的高表达，并且也可以在体外从人类胚胎干细胞（hESC）中产生。此外，研究人员将THBS1鉴定为MK倾向的胚胎内皮细胞早期标记。总体而言，这项研究为解剖早期人类巨核细胞生成的分子和细胞程序提供了重要的见识和宝贵的资源。

据了解，尽管人们对胚胎免疫发育的了解日益加深，但稀有的早期MK仍然研究不足。 

附：英文原文

Title: Decoding Human Megakaryocyte Development

Author: Hongtao Wang, Jian He, Changlu Xu, Xiaoyuan Chen, Hua Yang, Shujuan Shi, Cuicui Liu, Yang Zeng, Dan Wu, Zhijie Bai, Mengge Wang, Yuqi Wen, Pei Su, Meijuan Xia, Baiming Huang, Chunyu Ma, Lihong Bian, Yu Lan, Tao Cheng, Lihong Shi, Bing Liu, Jiaxi Zhou

Issue&Volume: 2020-12-18

Abstract: Despite our growing understanding of embryonic immune development, rare early megakaryocytes(MKs) remain relatively understudied. Here we used single-cell RNA sequencing of humanMKs from embryonic yolk sac (YS) and fetal liver (FL) to characterize the transcriptome,cellular heterogeneity, and developmental trajectories of early megakaryopoiesis.In the YS and FL, we found heterogeneous MK subpopulations with distinct developmentalroutes and patterns of gene expression that could reflect early functional specialization.Intriguingly, we identified a subpopulation of CD42b+CD14+ MKs in vivo that exhibit high expression of genes associated with immune responses and can alsobe derived from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) in vitro. Furthermore, we identified THBS1 as an early marker for MK-biased embryonic endothelialcells. Overall, we provide important insights and invaluable resources for dissectionof the molecular and cellular programs underlying early human megakaryopoiesis.

DOI: 10.1016/j.stem.2020.11.006

Source: https://www.cell.com/cell-stem-cell/fulltext/S1934-5909(20)30544-0