Understanding mast cell heterogeneity at single cell resolution

Gökhan Cildir; Kwok Ho Yip; Harshita Pant; Vinay Tergaonkar; Angel F Lopez; Damon J Tumes

doi:10.1016/j.it.2021.04.004

Understanding mast cell heterogeneity at single cell resolution

Trends Immunol. 2021 Jun;42(6):523-535. doi: 10.1016/j.it.2021.04.004. Epub 2021 May 4.

Authors

Gökhan Cildir¹, Kwok Ho Yip², Harshita Pant³, Vinay Tergaonkar⁴, Angel F Lopez³, Damon J Tumes⁵

Affiliations

¹ Centre for Cancer Biology, SA Pathology and the University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia. Electronic address: Gokhan.Cildir@unisa.edu.au.
² Centre for Cancer Biology, SA Pathology and the University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia.
³ Centre for Cancer Biology, SA Pathology and the University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia; School of Medicine, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia.
⁴ Centre for Cancer Biology, SA Pathology and the University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia; Laboratory of NF-κB Signaling, Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB), Proteos, Singapore 138673, Singapore; Department of Pathology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore 119074, Singapore.
⁵ Centre for Cancer Biology, SA Pathology and the University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia; South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia. Electronic address: Damon.Tumes@unisa.edu.au.

PMID: 33962887
DOI: 10.1016/j.it.2021.04.004

Abstract

Mast cells (MC)s are evolutionarily conserved, tissue-resident immune cells with diverse roles in allergy, cancer, and protection from infection by helminths and microorganisms. The significant diversity in MC development and tissue-specific functional characteristics has recently begun to be understood. Exciting developments in single-cell-based RNA, protein, and chromatin profiling technologies offer new opportunities to characterize MC heterogeneity and to uncover novel MC functions and subtypes; these developments might lead to new and clinically effective therapies for certain pathologies. In this review, we provide an overview of the current understanding of MC development and heterogeneity and discuss new insights gained from single-cell-based studies that may lead to future research directions and therapeutic opportunities.

Keywords: allergy; asthma; epigenetics; mast cells; single-cell RNA-seq; transcription factors.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Cell Differentiation
Mast Cells*
RNA*

Substances

RNA