The communication between cells plays an important role in determining their fate

Scientists have found a way to prove that the biochemical signals passed between cells play an important role in determining how cells develop

Researchers from the University of Southern California's Dornsif College of Arts and Sciences published it in the December 22nd issue of "Development"

background:

• All cells in the body start from stem cells

  
  

• Simply put, blood is formed when stem cells in the bone marrow develop into red blood cells that carry oxygen, white blood cells or platelets of the immune system along one of three pathways

  
  

• Scientists have long believed that communication between cells can affect their fate, but to a large extent they have found that direct research on this issue is too complicated

  
  

• Cells can communicate by sending growth factors, hormones, or other molecules back and forth

  
  

New findings:

• Adam MacLean, Assistant Professor of Quantitative and Computational Biology at the University of Southern California, Dornsif, and PhD candidate Megan Rommelfanger have found a way to better understand cells How inter-communication affects methods of hematopoietic stem cell development

  
  

• Scientists have discovered that this communication process can drastically change the formation of blood cell types

  
  

• They also found that the distance between cells is important

  
  

McLean said: "We found that this communication process can greatly change the formation of blood cell types, and cells that are close to each other have a greater impact on each other's fate

A dispute resolution

Researchers are trying to determine what early factors are driving cells to develop along one or another developmental path.

The model developed by MacLean and Rommelfanger seems to have completely ended this debate

Why it is important:

• While studying stem cells, this research can help scientists understand how cancer occurs

  
  

• For example, when certain white blood cells begin to grow and accumulate uncontrollably, they develop leukemia
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• Identifying the factors that drive cells to cancer can open the way for prevention and treatment
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"By understanding how blood cell fate decisions are made," MacLean said, "We are one step closer to being able to identify the origin of leukemia cells.
In theory, we can design strategies to control or change cell fate decisions and prevent The development of cancer
.
"

This research may help improve cancer treatments such as bone marrow transplants
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• Bone marrow transplantation involves injecting bone marrow and stem cells from healthy donors into leukemia and lymphoma patients whose cancer and bone marrow have been eliminated by chemotherapy and radiotherapy
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• Despite its success, scientists and clinicians are still not entirely sure how BMT works
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MacLean said: "As provided by our research, a better understanding of the fate of stem cells can provide new insights for improving the clinical outcomes of these diseases
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"

Not just the blood system

The significance of this new model goes beyond the blood system
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"Our model is widely applicable, so researchers studying other types of cells can apply it to discover how important communication between other cells may be," MacLean said
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What's next:

MacLean said that the role of cell-to-cell communication in determining cell fate is still in its infancy, but further experiments—and future technologies that integrate these new types of data with complex models—should help expand understanding
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In addition, the team is developing methods to study the regulation of key genes involved in cell fate determination, which will further advance their overall theoretical model
.

Article title

A single-cell resolved cell-cell communication model explains lineage commitment in hematopoiesis