Abstract
Despite the lack of unanimous consent on hematopoietic cell development, the current paradigm is that early hematopoietic progenitors are exclusively embryonic and short-lived. Their progeny resides in the adult and maintains its homeostasis exclusively by self-renewing without de novo generation. Here, we show that hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPC), which passed through a CD4 positive stage (HPC-CD4) give rise to a fraction of γδT cells, B cells, and dendritic cells, a larger part of liver and lung macrophages, and megakaryocyte-erythroblast progenitors. These hematopoietic progenitor cells emerged during embryonic life, are observed but not generated in adults, where their graft allows the production of myeloid and lymphoid cells. Thus, we propose HPC-CD4 as a distinct embryonic HPC, which maintains a continuous generation of a fraction of hematopoietic cells through the lifespan.
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.