The niche for extramedullar hematopoiesis in the spleen

Adult hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) reside primarily in bone marrow. However, hematopoietic stresses such as myelofibrosis, anemia, pregnancy, infection or myeloablation can mobilize HSCs to the spleen and induce extramedullary hematopoiesis (EMH). While the bone marrow HSC niche has been studied intensively, the EMH niche has received little attention. Here, we systematically assessed the physiological sources of the key niche factors, SCF and CXCL12, in the mouse spleen after EMH induction by cyclophosphamide plus granulocyte colony-stimulating factor, blood loss, or pregnancy. In each case, Scf was expressed by endothelial cells and Tcf21+ stromal cells, primarily around sinusoids in red pulp, while Cxcl12 was expressed by a subset of Tcf21+ stromal cells. EMH induction markedly expanded the Scf-expressing endothelial cells and stromal cells by inducing proliferation. Most splenic HSCs were adjacent to Tcf21+ stromal cells in red pulp. Conditional deletion of Scf from spleen endothelial cells or Scf or Cxcl12 from Tcf21+ stromal cells severely reduced spleen EMH and reduced blood cell counts without affecting bone marrow hematopoiesis. Endothelial cells and Tcf21+ stromal cells thus create the splenic EMH niche, which is necessary for the physiological response to diverse hematopoietic stresses. Unfractionated spleen cells (2 replicates) and FACS-sorted VE-cadherein negative Scf-GFP positive cells (3 replicates)