Metabolic Requirements for the Maintenance of Self-renewing Stem Cells

Overview

Journal Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol

Specialties Cell Biology
Molecular Biology

Date 2014 Mar 22

PMID 24651542

Citations 540

Authors

Keisuke Ito

Toshio Suda

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

A distinctive feature of stem cells is their capacity to self-renew to maintain pluripotency. Studies of genetically-engineered mouse models and recent advances in metabolomic analysis, particularly in haematopoietic stem cells, have deepened our understanding of the contribution made by metabolic cues to the regulation of stem cell self-renewal. Many types of stem cells heavily rely on anaerobic glycolysis, and stem cell function is also regulated by bioenergetic signalling, the AKT-mTOR pathway, Gln metabolism and fatty acid metabolism. As maintenance of a stem cell pool requires a finely-tuned balance between self-renewal and differentiation, investigations into the molecular mechanisms and metabolic pathways underlying these decisions hold great therapeutic promise.

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