The mysterious cells, known as B-1 cells, were first discovered in mice in the 1980s.They appear in the early
After the discovery of B-1 cells in miceIn 2011, researchers reported that they had found equivalent levels in humans. However, the scientists' results were not accepted as final proof. “Not everyone agreed with our profile of human B-1 cells,” Dr. Thomas Rothstein, professor and director of the Center for Immunobiology at Western Michigan University, said in a press release. He was the senior author of this previous work.
What did the scientists find out?
Now in a new study publishedIn the journal Science, scientists provided compelling evidence that B-1 cells appear early in human development, during the first and second trimesters of pregnancy. “This confirms and extends the work we published previously,” said Rothstein, who was not involved in the new study.
“This is compelling data."They support the idea that humans are carriers of B-1 cells," said Dr. Nicole Baumgart, a professor at the Center for Immunology and Infectious Diseases at the University of California, Davis. Theoretically, these cells could play a crucial role in early development. By studying them further, scientists can learn more about what healthy immune system development looks like in people.
A new look at the immune system
New work published along with three othersstudies recently conducted by the Human Cell Atlas consortium. This is an international group of experts who are working to determine the position, function and characteristics of every cell type in the human body. Taken together, the four studies published in the journal Science include an analysis of more than 1 million human cells. All of them belong to 500 different types and are taken from 30 different fabrics.
"You can think of it as 'Google Maps.'of the human body, and are actually "street maps" of individual cells and their locations in the tissues that we're targeting," said senior study author Sarah Teichmann. head of the cell genetics department at the Wellcome Sanger Institute in England and co-chair of the Organizing Committee of the Human Cell Atlas.
By helping to compile this atlas of the human body,Scientists have focused on immune cells. In particular, those that arise during early human development. It was through this work that they discovered evidence for the existence of human B-1 cells.
What are they needed for?
These cells help form new tissues as they form, the scientists say.
As the fetus develops, it constantly occursmassive tissue remodeling. For example, humans initially develop a membrane between their fingers, but it is “cut off” before birth. It's possible that B-1 cells help direct this tissue pruning during development, suggested Nicole Baumgart, who was not involved in the study.
According to her, in addition to tissue formationB-1 cells may provide some level of immune protection against pathogens small enough to cross the placental barrier. But this is also just a guess. This remains to be seen.
The new work expands our understanding of how B-1 cells initially develop and could lay the groundwork for future research into how cells function later in life.
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