Autophagy in hematopoietic stem cells

Frans, Myrthe (2019) Autophagy in hematopoietic stem cells. Master's Thesis / Essay, Biomedical Sciences.

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Abstract

Autophagy seems to be implicated in many different ways, in different cell types and different diseases. One important implication of autophagy is its role in hematopoietic stem cells where it serves as a pro-survival mechanism by maintaining quiescence, allowing hematopoietic stem cells to preserve their quality and self-renewing capability. During the aging process hematopoietic stem cells seem to lose their quiescence, which is due to a reduced autophagic-flux. The loss of this degradation process often results in the accumulation of damage in a cell which could contribute to the development of age-related diseases like acute myeloid leukaemia. The role of autophagy in this specific disease is very complex, but it often seems to be increased in leukemic cells compared to hematopoietic stem cells. Additionally, autophagy seems to be induced by chemotherapy and provides a survival mechanism for cancer cells. Inhibition of autophagy during anti-cancer therapy therefore might be beneficial to reduce AML relapse. Most studies regarding the role of autophagy have not focussed on specific subtypes of AML, therefore the results could be confounded by differences in genetic and transcriptomic profiles. Given the large amount of heterogeneity observed in tumours, it might be beneficial to study autophagy in a more single cell based context.

Item Type:	Thesis (Master's Thesis / Essay)
Supervisor name:	Schuringa, J.J.
Degree programme:	Biomedical Sciences
Thesis type:	Master's Thesis / Essay
Language:	English
Date Deposited:	20 Dec 2019 15:21
Last Modified:	20 Dec 2019 15:21
URI:	https://fse.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/21326

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