How Glycosylphosphatidylinositol-phospholipase D acts in homing of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells?

SummaryHoming of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HS/PC) to the bone marrow (BM) microenvironment is the first and essential step in HS/PC engraftment and initiation of the marrow reconstitution during clinical hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). How to improve the homing efficiencies and make full use of HS/PC resources, especially umbilical cord blood (UCB), are of great importance in clinical practice. However, the cellular and molecular mechanisms that govern this process are poorly understood. Glycosylphosphatidylinositol-phospholipase D (GPI-PLD) is an enzyme which can regulate the expression of Glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored proteins and modulate their correspondent functions by releasing GPI-anchored proteins from cell membrane. Recent studies suggested that the mechanisms of the malignancy and prognosis of certain tumors were correlated with GPI-PLD. HS/PC homing was similar to tumor invasion and metastasis in some process. Here we proposed the hypothesis that GPI-PLD might also has played a role in the homing of HS/PC by modulating the adhesion and migration of these cells. If GPI-PLD did participate in HS/PC homing, maybe the mechanisms of homing can herefrom be partly elucidated, which would benefit transplantation in clinical practice.