Medial HOXA genes demarcate haematopoietic stem cell fate during human development.

Pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) may provide a potential source of haematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs) for transplantation; however, unknown molecular barriers prevent the self-renewal of PSC-HSPCs. Using two-step differentiation, human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) differentiated in vitro into multipotent haematopoietic cells that had the CD34(+)CD38(-/lo)CD90(+)CD45(+)GPI-80(+) fetal liver (FL) HSPC immunophenotype, but exhibited poor expansion potential and engraftment ability. Transcriptome analysis of immunophenotypic hESC-HSPCs revealed that, despite their molecular resemblance to FL-HSPCs, medial HOXA genes remained suppressed.