“…21 In strong contrast, we directly demonstrate that supra-steady-state enhanced Mpl stimulation drives dormant HSCs into division and expansion, a situation that might occur, for example, in sepsis-mediated inflammation. 22,23 Indeed, prior studies demonstrated that Tpo and Mpl signaling is essential for HSC homeostasis 24,25 and their expansion after transplantation, 25 whereas, seemingly contradictorily, other studies demonstrated that Tpo and Mpl signaling is critical for keeping HSCs in a quiescent state. 12,24 We suggest that this discrepancy might result from Mpl signaling strength: although data on HSC quiescence stem from loss-of-function studies, 12,24 we examined here the effect of supra-steady-state Mpl signaling, more comparable to studies on higher doses of thrombopoietin administration 12 or on genetic deficiency of lymphocyte adaptor protein, a negative regulator of Tpo-induced signaling.…”