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Epigenome editing of human hematopoietic stem cells enables sustained and reversible thrombosis prevention

Ye, T.; Xu, W.; Barrachina, M. N.; Lyu, P.; Antoszewski, M.; della Volpe, L.; Guo, C.-j.; Lee, A. J.; Theardy, M. S.; Shelton, S. D.; Wahlster, L.; Caulier, A.; Messa, L.; Poeschla, M.; Agarwal, G.; Mitra, R.; Schmaier, A. A.; Weissman, J. S.; Machlus, K. R.; Sankaran, V. G.

2026-03-29 genomics
10.64898/2026.03.27.714536 bioRxiv
Show abstract

Thrombosis remains a major cause of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, driven in large part by platelet activation and aggregation. Because platelets are continuously produced from hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), durable reprogramming of HSC output offers a unique opportunity for a one-time antithrombotic intervention. Here, we show that DNA methylation-based epigenome editors delivered transiently as RNA result in stable, heritable gene silencing in primary human HSCs that persists through long-term self-renewal and megakaryocytic differentiation, while remaining reversible through targeted demethylation. Targeting the platelet integrin {beta}3 (ITGB3), this approach achieves robust, sustained repression and yields platelets with impaired aggregation. Extending this framework to additional genetically-nominated platelet targets establishes HSC epigenome editing as a durable and reversible strategy to modulate thrombotic risk and highlights broader opportunities to engineer hematopoiesis.

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