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Hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) transplantation does not save as many lives as it could: An insufficient number of HSCs in allogeneic HSC grafts and cord blood grafts often leads to graft failure.
A multi-institutional U.S. team meticulously screened approximately 100,000 small molecules to find any that might promote expansion of human HSCs. The researchers found a purine derivative called StemRegenin 1 (SR1) that, in vitro, increased the number of HSCs 50-fold in human cord blood and led to multipotent progenitors that were capable of forming myeloid, granulocyte/monocyte, megakaryocyte, and erythroid cells. SR1 also exponentially promoted the ability of these human HSCs to engraft immunodeficient mice. The investigators found that SR1 acted…