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Abstract
Purification of rare hematopoietic stem cell(s) (HSC) to homogeneity is required to
study their self-renewal, differentiation, phenotype, and homing. Long-term repopulation
(LTR) of irradiated hosts and serial transplantation to secondary hosts represent
the gold standard for demonstrating self-renewal and differentiation, the defining
properties of HSC. We show that rare cells that home to bone marrow can LTR primary
and secondary recipients. During the homing, CD34 and SCA-1 expression increases uniquely
on cells that home to marrow. These adult bone marrow cells have tremendous differentiative
capacity as they can also differentiate into epithelial cells of the liver, lung,
GI tract, and skin. This finding may contribute to clinical treatment of genetic disease
or tissue repair.