Browsing by Author "Xi, Rongwen"

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    Bmi1 maintains the self-renewal property of innate-like B lymphocytes
    (American Association of Immunologists, 2020-06-15) Kobayashi, Michihiro; Lin, Yang; Mishra, Akansha; Shelly, Chris; Gao, Rui; Reeh, Colton W; Wang, Paul Zhiping; Xi, Rongwen; Liu, Yunlong; Wenzel, Pamela; Ghosn, Eliver; Liu, Yan; Yoshimoto, Momoko; Pediatrics, School of Medicine
    The self-renewal ability is a unique property of fetal-derived innate-like B-1a lymphocytes, which survive and function without being replenished by bone marrow (BM) progenitors. However, the mechanism by which IgM-secreting mature B-1a lymphocytes self-renew is poorly understood. In this study, we showed that Bmi1 was critically involved in this process. Although Bmi1 is considered essential for lymphopoiesis, the number of mature conventional B cells was not altered when Bmi1 was deleted in the B cell lineage. In contrast, the number of peritoneal B-1a cells was significantly reduced. Peritoneal cell transfer assays revealed diminished self-renewal ability of Bmi1-deleted B-1a cells, which was restored by additional deletion of Ink4-Arf, the well-known target of Bmi1 Fetal liver cells with B cell-specific Bmi1 deletion failed to repopulate peritoneal B-1a cells, but not other B-2 lymphocytes after transplantation assays, suggesting that Bmi1 may be involved in the developmental process of B-1 progenitors to mature B-1a cells. Although Bmi1 deletion has also been shown to alter the microenvironment for hematopoietic stem cells, fat-associated lymphoid clusters, the reported niche for B-1a cells, were not impaired in Bmi1 -/- mice. RNA expression profiling suggested lysine demethylase 5B (Kdm5b) as another possible target of Bmi1, which was elevated in Bmi1-/- B-1a cells in a stress setting and might repress B-1a cell proliferation. Our work has indicated that Bmi1 plays pivotal roles in self-renewal and maintenance of fetal-derived B-1a cells.
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    Bmi1 Regulates Wnt Signaling in Hematopoietic Stem and Progenitor Cells
    (Springer, 2021) Yu, Hao; Gao, Rui; Chen, Sisi; Liu, Xicheng; Wang, Qiang; Cai, Wenjie; Vemula, Sasidhar; Fahey, Aidan C.; Henley, Danielle; Kobayashi, Michihiro; Liu, Stephen Z.; Qian, Zhijian; Kapur, Reuben; Broxmeyer, Hal E.; Gao, Zhonghua; Xi, Rongwen; Liu, Yan; Pediatrics, School of Medicine
    Polycomb group protein Bmi1 is essential for hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) self-renewal and terminal differentiation. However, its target genes in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells are largely unknown. We performed gene expression profiling assays and found that genes of the Wnt signaling pathway are significantly elevated in Bmi1 null hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs). Bmi1 is associated with several genes of the Wnt signaling pathway in hematopoietic cells. Further, we found that Bmi1 represses Wnt gene expression in HSPCs. Importantly, loss of β-catenin, which reduces Wnt activation, partially rescues the HSC self-renewal and differentiation defects seen in the Bmi1 null mice. Thus, we have identified Bmi1 as a novel regulator of Wnt signaling pathway in HSPCs. Given that Wnt signaling pathway plays an important role in hematopoiesis, our studies suggest that modulating Wnt signaling may hold potential for enhancing HSC self-renewal, thereby improving the outcomes of HSC transplantation.