Partial hemopoietic chimerism in thalassemic recipients of normal bone marrow stem cells : selective advantage of normal erythropoiesis

textabstractPeripheral blood cells have a limited life span and are continuously replaced. Hemopoiesis is the production of new blood cells, which, in mice, under physiological circumstances, occurs in bone marrow (BM), spleenimd thymus. Current knowledge of hemopoiesis originates from the early 50's when it was observed that spleen and BM cell suspensions protected lethally irradiated animals from death due to bone marrow failure. Although this finding initially prompted a search for a humoral factor, it was soon demonstrated that the production of donor derived blood cells protected the animals from radiation inflicted death.