Irving Weissman

Irving Weissman (Stanford University School of Medicine, USA)
“Normal and Neoplastic Stem Cells”
  • Marrow or MPB (mobilized peripheral blood)
  • Mixture of cells: HSCs, T cells, cancer cells
  • Deplete mature blood cells by labeling with magnetic antibodies
  • Pure HSCs for transplantation
  • 250,000 fold depletion an ever cells or T cells
  • Unwanted cells : cancer cells, T cells
  • Noise HSC: ckit_sca1+150+34-flk2-48-Lin-
  • Human HSC: CD34+90+38loLin-45RA-

  • The problem (rescue blood system with un-purified graft giving cancer back)
  • The solution (rescue with purified cancer free stem cells)
  • Blood stem cell only come from blood
  • Estimated MBC remaining after chemo ~ 1M; in models anti-CD47 clears these
  • HoxB5+LT HSC are attached to bone marrow venous sinusoid always endothelial abluminal surfactant; 100 niches in a mouse femur
  • http://symposium.cshlp.org/content/81/1.long
  • Blood forming cells are attached to the bone
  • Leukemia cells in AML patients
  • Cell of origin – progression to leukemia. [competition!)
  • Three labs’ work. Sic Translation Medicine 2012 4(149):149ra18
  • (Steve Quake, Ravi Majettic, Irv Weissman)
  • Identification of somatic mutations by exosome sequencing
  • SKP2
  • TET2 (Y1649 stop). Demethylation. CTCF FLT3 leukemia
  • Ryan Corces, Ravi Mejetui and IW. 2014 PNAS (21 AMLs)
  • ** if you want to know which genes are likely oncogene, ask the cancer
  • Lessons for leukemia and perhaps all cancers


The importance of Purified Cancer-Free Stem Cells!          adapted from https://goo.gl/qAkPE3

Cancers have their own self-renewing cells called cancer stem cells (Reyna, Morrison, Clarke and Weissman 2001)

— Diehn and Clarke stem cells have higher glutathione than progeny target

CD47 is a “don’t eat me cell”

  • CD47 was discovered as a marker of aging RBC by Oldenburg. We found it on many LSC. Traver and IW 1998 Jaiswal Majeti Chao and IW 2008 
  • Hypothesis: increased expression of CD47 on myeloid leukemia /tumor cells contributes to pathogens is by facilitating evasion of phagocytoskie 
  • Macrophage (SIRPa interacts with CD47) 
  • CD47 inhibitors programmed cell removal – PrCR
  • Jaiswal et al 2009 2009 Cell 138(20:p271 (metastasis niche is formed by HSC?)
  • Anti-CD47 antibodies enable phagocytosis of AML LSC Mark Chao Majeti et al

  • breast cancer cell + anti-CD47. –> cure
  • CD47 E5 enhance is active specifically in breast cancer (MCF7 vs Jurkat)
  • Anti CD47 antibody treats human brain cancers, and all many other cancers
  • Paola Betamncur
  • Pre-cancer cells express calreticulin, and emergent cancer clones overcome this with CD478 (真假?)
  • eat me signal (Lrp 1). <-> Calreticulin
  • Macrophage are the main source of calreticulin which they secrete to test target cells for eat me markers
  • Nat Commun 2018 (Marjon KD and Feng M)
  • MN. PMN _Mac
  • Calreticulin binds to an asial CalR
  • Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS)
  • PNAS 2013: combinatory therapy of antiCD47 and antiCD20 (macrophage also have Fc)
  • Other don’t eat me signals Gordon, Ring, Maute IW Nature 2017
  • MHC1 beta2m on cancer cells, LILRB1 (ITAM contaminating) on macrophages 
  • Baykal, Maute IW 2018
  • Anti-PD1 or anti-PDL1 functions, other don’t eat me signals
  • PDL1 is a “don’t eat me” signal in TAMs, there are others
  • Receptor mediated lymphomagenesis Weissman lab (1976-1987)
  • Human NHL has anti-sled surface Is. Ataudt, Levy
  • ps KSHV K7 vIAP 2005 EMBO J by Wang HW and Boshoff

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