RESEARCH BRIEFINGS

27 May 2026

Inflammatory stress is shown to reprogram a subset of human haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). These inflammatory memory (HSC-iM) cells have reduced differentiation and pass on inflammation-related gene programs to their immune-cell progeny. HSC-iM cells accumulate with age, and cancer-associated mutations affect HSC-iM cells more than they do other HSCs in clonal blood disorders.

This is a summary of: Zeng, A. G. X. et al . Human haematopoietic stem cells remember inflammatory stress. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10522-7 (2026) .

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