Innate lymphoid cells regenerate within lung.

[2greys]

If worms infect the respiratory tract, the body reacts with a pattern that is also typical of asthma: cramping of the bronchi, elevated mucus production and a severe cough. Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) are an essential but incompletely understood player in this worm defense. ILCs emerge during the first days after birth; however, little research has been done to date on which subgroups of ILCs exist and how they are regenerated during life. Now, Max Planck researchers from the group of Dominic Grün teamed up with a group from the University of Würzburg headed by Georg Gasteiger and generated a comprehensive atlas of lung ILCs. They made use of the powerful single-cell RNA-seq technology and identified progenitor ILCs, comprising circulating and lung-resident progenitors, which differentiate and mature within the lung. They demonstrate that during parasitic worm infections these cells adapt the identity of mature lung ILCs, independent of their origin, and thus help to maintain the population of lung-resident ILCs.

mpg.de/15453040/innate-lymp...

[deni-123red_]

Parasitic worms must be fairly rare in the UK. Isn’t it something picked up by swimming in certain waters of far away lands? Nasty little buggers though aren’t they!

[2greys in reply to deni-123red_]

But, Covid aside, how many people like to go to those countries for holidays.

[deni-123red_ in reply to 2greys]

We always travelled a lot until this year. We often cruised but funnily enough I don’t miss it at all. I think we’re all cocooning. My daughter’s in Greece right now though. I couldn’t even think about getting on a plane and sitting for hours all masked up.