BioAcyl Corp |
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| Resource type: Journal Article DOI: 10.1038/s41577-020-00477-9 BibTeX citation key: Hewitt2021 View all bibliographic details |
Categories: BioAcyl Corp, BioAcyl Corp Subcategories: Inflammatory memory, URT Immunity Creators: Hewitt, Lloyd Collection: Nat. Rev. Immunol. |
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| Abstract |
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The community of cells lining our airways plays a collaborative role in the preservation of immune homeostasis in the lung and provides protection from the pathogens and pollutants in the air we breathe. In addition to its structural attributes that provide effective mucociliary clearance of the lower airspace, the airway epithelium is an immunologically active barrier surface that senses changes in the airway environment and interacts with resident and recruited immune cells. Single-cell RNA-sequencing is illuminating the cellular heterogeneity that exists in the airway wall and has identified novel cell populations with unique molecular signatures, trajectories of differentiation and diverse functions in health and disease. In this Review, we discuss how our view of the airway epithelial landscape has evolved with the advent of transcriptomic approaches to cellular phenotyping, with a focus on epithelial interactions with the local neuronal and immune systems. |
| Notes |
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Revised cell repertoire of human airway epithelium captured by scRNA-seq. The traditional view of the airway epithelium — comprising epithelial cells lining the upper and lower respiratory tract — has been transformed by single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq). The revised contemporary landscape features newly identified cell types, such as the ionocyte, and different cell states. The cellular composition and cell states within the airway varies according to anatomical location (proximal–distal axis) and the presence of disease. The approach used to obtain human samples for sequencing differs according to lung compartment; the principle methods for sampling human airway epithelial cells are bronchial brushings and endobronchial biopsies conducted during bronchoscopy, in contrast to sampling of the alveolar region, which is achieved using parenchymal lung tissue obtained from surgical biopsy or from explants. BAL, bronchoalveolar lavage. |