To investigate the mechanisms by which nestin+ cells support AML development and chemoresistance, we optimized an in vitro system to grow human or murine NESTIN+ BMSCs as mesenspheres, which exhibit increased in vivo self-renewal and support of HSCs, compared with standard plastic-adherent BMSCs (Ghazanfari et al., 2016; Isern et al., 2013; Méndez-Ferrer et al., 2010). Here, NES is linked to acute myeloid leukemia.