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Getting the latest healthcare news for you
Getting the latest healthcare news for you
Scientists use AI to crack the code on blood stem cell aging. Researchers at Tohoku University used an AI model to sift through gene data and identify Pbx1 as a key driver of aging in hematopoietic stem cells. The findings, published in Science Advances, could open new doors for understanding age-related blood disorders like anemia, clotting issues, and blood cancers.
Scientists at Tohoku University have used artificial intelligence to identify a critical gene behind the aging of blood-forming stem cells. As people age, hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) — the bone marrow cells responsible for producing all blood cell types — become less effective, contributing to anemia, weakened immunity, blood clots, and blood cancers. To understand why, researchers turned to Geneformer, an AI model trained on gene-expression data from roughly 30 million cells, and fine-tuned it on about 160,000 young and aged blood stem cells from mice.
The AI flagged 143 candidate genes, which were then narrowed down in the lab to one standout: Pbx1. In aged stem cells, Pbx1 was strongly linked to genes tied to stem-cell immaturity and platelet overproduction. When Pbx1 was artificially increased in young stem cells, those cells began mimicking aged ones — producing fewer red blood cells and more platelets, partly by suppressing a gene called Gata1.
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Why it matters: These findings reframe how we think about aging blood stem cells — not as broken cells, but as cells that shift into a distinct stable state. Understanding this mechanism could eventually lead to therapies targeting age-related blood disorders and cancers.
