小鼠模型 z-bo 2020-11-30 285

　　Researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine in the United States found that squamous type 1 alveolar cells (AT1 cells) and cuboid type 2 alveolar cells (AT2 cells) developed from a kind of "dual potential" progenitor cells. of. And explain the mechanism of action of AT2 cell "facultative" stem cells.

　　Nature: American scientists discovered new functions of cells related to lung ventilation

　　Lung ventilation occurs in the exquisitely structured alveolar sac, and its inner wall has two types of epithelial cells: squamous type 1 alveolar cells (AT1 cells) and cuboid type 2 alveolar cells (AT2 cells). The former mediates ventilation; the latter secretes surfactants that prevent alveoli from collapsing during breathing.

　　Mark Krasnow and colleagues used alveolar markers, genetic lineage tracking, and clonal analysis to identify alveolar progenitor cells in vivo throughout the mouse life cycle. They found that AT1 and AT2 cells were formed from a "dual potential" progenitor cell during development. After birth, mature AT2 cells function as "facultative" stem cells, forming slowly increasing monoclonal sites that regenerate alveoli.

　　The carcinogenic Kras (G12D) mutation permanently stimulates AT2 self-renewal, hijacking this "facultative" stem cell function to initiate lung cancer.