How a V Foundation researcher uncovered our hidden power 🔋⚡️

Every year, thousands of people with leukemia, lymphoma, or multiple myeloma undergo bone marrow transplants. It's often their best shot at long-term survival. But after the transplant, the immune system must rebuild itself from scratch, this is a slow and risky process, especially in older adults. 

🛡️ During that recovery time, patients are vulnerable to infections, relapse, and other complications. So researchers have been asking a critical question:

Can we help the immune system (and thus patients), bounce back faster?

A study funded in part by the V Foundation just found a promising answer. 

Dr. Melody Smith Stanford University School of Medicine identified a rare group of blood stem cells with an incredible knack for rebuilding the immune system, especially T cells, the body's frontline defenders. 

These blood stem cells have a technical name: Kit^lo HSCs (I know, I know, but it’s short for "hematopoietic stem cells with low levels of the Kit protein"). The “Kit” is a marker - and a way researchers can sort stem cells from other cells.

But here’s what I’d like you to know about these cells, and Dr. Smith's discovery:

👉 The cells Dr. Smith identified are immune-rebuilding stem cells. 

What gives them this unique ability is a gene with another not-so-catchy name but super catchy function: ZBTB1.

🧬 You can think of ZBTB1 as a “genetic switch” that is responsible for the ability of these special stem cells to focus on their ability to generate immune cells, especially the T cells that protect us from infections and cancer. 

What Dr. Smith and team showed: 

• These immune-rebuilding cells worked in both young and middle-aged lab models, speeding up thymus and immune recovery after transplant.

• When the team boosted the “ZBTB1 switch,” the cells became even more effective.

• Even more exciting to me: they discovered a similar population in human bone marrow, showing real promise for future patient therapies.

Why this research matters for cancer patients: 

• Faster immune recovery means fewer infections, fewer setbacks, and better chances of survival after transplant.

• It could even help older adults rebuild a stronger immune system. 

I love this study! It’s exactly the kind of bold, high-impact research the V Foundation is proud to fund: uncovering hidden healing powers in the body, and turning them into better outcomes for cancer patients. 

💡 Bottom line: we already carry the blueprint to recover better. This research is helping us to discover new ways to use it.

Find the Smith lab at Melody Smith, MD, MS | Stanford Medicine and Read the full study in Nature Communications