Princess Margaret Cancer Centre researchers have made new findings which provide a broader understanding of how dormant hematopoietic stem cells are activated and could pave the way towards therapeutic treatments for a number of cancers.
The team has made the discovery by performing a deep mechanistic study of lysosomes, which are membrane-bound organelles found in all cells. Lysosomes were once believed to merely be the “garbage bin” of the stem cell, recycling waste material, regulating cellular regeneration and functioning the same in all cell types. But the PM team’s research builds on new knowledge about lysosomes which shows they act as key signaling hubs, regulating long-term hematopoietic stem cells.