04/09/2020
Koliaraki, Armaka and Kollias laboratories published a review article in Nature Immunology on the contextual role of fibroblastic mesenchymal cells in physiology and disease. [Pubmed]
The mesenchymal context in inflammation, immunity and cancer
Koliaraki, Armaka and Kollias laboratories published a review article in Nature Immunology on the contextual role of fibroblastic mesenchymal cells in physiology and disease. Mesenchymal cells are present in almost all tissues and organs and have long been recognized for their fundamental role in the structural support of different tissues and organs. It has now become evident that they also play crucial roles in the maintenance of homeostasis and that defective mesenchymal cell functions are associated with the development of complex diseases, such as various immunopathologies, chronic inflammatory disease, tissue fibrosis and cancer. Recent data from single-cell transcriptomic analyses have unraveled an unprecedented level of heterogeneity of MC identities and properties that exert diverse functions within and across different tissues and disease states. The Review offers a comprehensive overview of these newly uncovered functions of the mesenchyme in pathophysiology, bringing into focus emerging evidence for both their heterogeneity at the single-cell level and their tissue-specific, spatiotemporal functional diversity.
Review Article: The mesenchymal context in inflammation, immunity and cancer. Koliaraki V, Prados A, Armaka M, Kollias G. Nat Immunol. 2020 Sep;21(9):974-982. doi: 10.1038/s41590-020-0741-2.