A critical role for PU.1 in homing and long-term engraftment by hematopoietic stem cells in the bone marrow.

We have previously demonstrated that PU.1 is required for the production of lymphoid and myeloid, but not of erythroid progenitors in the fetal liver. In this study, competitive reconstitution assays show that E14.5 PU.1(-/-) hematopoietic progenitors (HPC) fail to sustain definitive/adult erythropoiesis or to contribute to the lymphoid and myeloid lineages. PU.1(-/-) HPC are unable to respond synergistically to erythropoietin plus stem cell factor and have reduced expression of c-kit, which may explain the erythroid defect. Fluorescently labeled, PU.1(-/-), AA4.1(+), fetal liver HPC were transferred into irradiated recipients, where they demonstrated a severely impaired ability to home to and colonize the bone marrow. PU.1(-/-) HPC were found to lack integrins alpha(4) (VLA-4/CD49d), alpha(5) (VLA-5/CD49e), and CD11b (alpha(M)). Collectively, this study has shown that PU.1 plays an important role in controlling migration of hematopoietic progenitors to the bone marrow and the establishment of long-term multilineage hematopoiesis.