8-Me-PIQ Expands Cord Blood HSCs via Metabolic Suppression and Inhibition of Ribosome Biogenesis

To gain mechanistic insight into how 8-Me-PIQ promotes ex vivo expansion while preserving HSC stemness, we performed bulk transcriptomic analysis on UCB CD34+ cells cultured for 7 days in the presence of either 8-Me-PIQ or DMSO vehicle control.The convergence of transcriptional changes upon these specific biological processes suggests a coordinated mechanism by which 8-Me-PIQ preserves HSC stemness: attenuation of mitochondrial oxidative metabolism and reduction of global protein synthesis demand, thereby maintaining a quiescence-like state conducive to long-term function.