Fetal liver cell transplantation : role and nature of the fetal haemopoietic stem cell

Fetal liver cell transplantation deserves intensified interest because, according to previous experimental evidence, it may represent a useful approach to reduce or avoid severe Graft-versus-Host (GvH) reactions following treatment with allogeneic haemopoietic cell grafts. The application of fetal liver cells in man has not been very successful so far. The present investigation in the mouse was concerned with the practical issues of elucidating the causes for the repeated failures of fetal liver cell grafting in patients and of establishing the applicability and limitations of these grafts. This study also had interesting physiological aspects. It allowed us to investigate the specific growth properties of the embryonic haemopoietic stem cells (HSC) and to add information to our incomplete knowledge of factors controlling the differentiation and proliferation of these cells