Bone marrow resident hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are responsible for the lifetime generation of the wide profusion of blood and immune cell types found in the body. In addition, therapeutically, in the context of bone marrow transplantation, HSCs have been successfully deployed to restore normal blood-forming capacity in patients being treated with high-dose chemotherapy for hematologic malignancies. The known ability of bone marrow transplantation to either restore or reset the immune system and to engender immune tolerance has suggested that HSCs may be applied therapeutically for a wider range of clinical conditions, including immunological/autoimmune disorders and allogeneic organ transplantation. Herein, we describe a flow-cytometry-based method to isolate mouse HSCs for continued experimental investigation into such therapeutic uses.
Keywords: Cell sorting; Flow cytometry; HSCs; Tolerance; Transplantation.