Nature journal: uncovering important signaling pathways in lymph nodes to better understand pathophysiological processes

SARS, MERS and novel coronavirus 2019-nCoV have become global threats Lymph nodes (LN) fight infectious diseases by providing shelter for the growth of immune cells and resisting pathogens However, little is known about the specific internal operation of LN Scientists from the Korean Institute of basic sciences (IBS) found that the hippo Yap / TAZ signaling pathway plays a major role in the formation and maintenance of LN The study was published in nature communications One of the key components of LN is fibroblast reticular cell (FRC), which forms the basic structure of LN and triggers the immune response by releasing cytokines, a protein that is important to the immune system During the development of LN, functional FRC was formed: an ambiguous mesenchymal cell group differentiated into FRC precursor, and then further developed into mature FRC with immune function The team confirmed the importance of Hippo pathway, a key regulator of cell proliferation and organ size control, in the process of FRC maturation They used more than 20 different transgenic mouse models to characterize the Hippo pathway at a specific time point, thus consuming Yap / TAZ protein in each stage of FRC development By carefully examining the ln of mice, they found that when Yap in the precursor of FRC/ When TAZ decreases, FRC will turn into fat cells In terms of mechanism, Yap / TAZ should be combined with key components regulating FRC, such as p52 The interaction between the two promotes the expression of chemokines In future studies, we will focus on determining whether diseases or conditions that affect systemic immune response can be related to changes in the Hippo signaling pathway in FRCS, and whether regulating the Hippo signaling pathway in FRCS can be a feasible treatment option In addition to its importance in the immune response to influenza, FRC is widely recognized for its role in cancer progression and patient prognosis.