*4.6. Colony-Forming Cell (CFC) Assay*

CD34<sup>+</sup> cells (500 cells/dish) were plated in methylcellulose medium (Methocult H4100, STEMCELL Technologies, Inc., Canada) supplemented with SCF (50 ng/mL), IL-3 (10 ng/mL), GM-CSF (10 ng/mL) (PeproTech), and EPO (1 U/mL) in 35-mm culture dishes and incubated at 37 ◦C in a 5% CO2 chamber for 14 days. Colonies were counted and analyzed using a scoring grid and an inverted microscope (Olympus, Japan). Colonies were classified based on their morphology as colony-forming unit/burst-forming unit-erythroid (CFU/BFU-E), CFU-granulocyte/macrophage (CFU-GM), and CFU-granulocyte/erythroid/macrophage/megakaryocytes (CFU-GEMM).
