Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2024 Mar;56(3):549-558.
doi: 10.1038/s12276-024-01192-4. Epub 2024 Mar 5.

Extramedullary hematopoiesis in cancer

Derek A G Barisas  1 , Kyunghee Choi  2
Affiliations
Review

Extramedullary hematopoiesis in cancer

Derek A G Barisas et al. Exp Mol Med. 2024 Mar.

Abstract

Hematopoiesis can occur outside of the bone marrow during inflammatory stress to increase the production of primarily myeloid cells at extramedullary sites; this process is known as extramedullary hematopoiesis (EMH). As observed in a broad range of hematologic and nonhematologic diseases, EMH is now recognized for its important contributions to solid tumor pathology and prognosis. To initiate EMH, hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are mobilized from the bone marrow into the circulation and to extramedullary sites such as the spleen and liver. At these sites, HSCs primarily produce a pathological subset of myeloid cells that contributes to tumor pathology. The EMH HSC niche, which is distinct from the bone marrow HSC niche, is beginning to be characterized. The important cytokines that likely contribute to initiating and maintaining the EMH niche are KIT ligands, CXCL12, G-CSF, IL-1 family members, LIF, TNFα, and CXCR2. Further study of the role of EMH may offer valuable insights into emergency hematopoiesis and therapeutic approaches against cancer. Exciting future directions for the study of EMH include identifying common and distinct EMH mechanisms in cancer, infectious diseases, and chronic autoimmune diseases to control these conditions.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Jemal A, Thomas A, Murray T, Thun M. Cancer statistics, 2002. CA Cancer J. Clin. 2002;52:23–47. doi: 10.3322/canjclin.52.1.23. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Nahrendorf M. Myeloid cell contributions to cardiovascular health and disease. Nat. Med. 2018;24:711–720. doi: 10.1038/s41591-018-0064-0. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Oduro KA, Jr., et al. Myeloid skewing in murine autoimmune arthritis occurs in hematopoietic stem and primitive progenitor cells. Blood J. Am. Soc. Hematol. 2012;120:2203–2213. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wu C, et al. Spleen mediates a distinct hematopoietic progenitor response supporting tumor-promoting myelopoiesis. J. Clin. Invest. 2018;128:3425–3438. doi: 10.1172/JCI97973. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Corbeau I, Jacot W, Guiu S. Neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio as prognostic and predictive factor in breast cancer patients: a systematic review. Cancers. 2020;12:958. doi: 10.3390/cancers12040958. - DOI - PMC - PubMed