Blood stem cells, which give rise to all of our blood cell types, undergo a quality assurance process after they’re born. As the lab of Leonard Zon, MD, director of the Stem Cell Research program at Boston Children’s, has documented, immune cells known as macrophages interact with each newly born cell. They engulf and eat any diseased or mutated stem cells, cued by a surface molecule called calreticulin, while encouraging healthy stem cells to divide and proliferate.
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