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Stem cells

Differentiated cells in a back-up role

Nature volume 503, pages 204–205 (2013)Cite this article

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Two independent studies show that, if push comes to shove, differentiated cells of the stomach and lung can act as adult stem cells, generating various cell types of the tissues, including a pool of stem cells. See Article p.218

When functional cells die, they are soon replaced. In most cases, the replacement cells arise either from the division of surviving mature cells of the same class or from the division and differentiation of tissue stem cells. But what happens when resident stem cells are selectively depleted? Two papers, one by Tata et al.1 on page 218 of this issue and the other by Stange et al.2 published in Cell, find that following depletion of stem cells in the stomach or lung, stem-cell function can be recovered through a surprising back-up function provided by specific differentiated cells in each tissue.

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Figure 1: When mature cells function as reserve stem cells.

References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tushar J. Desai is in the Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94305-5307, USA.,

    Tushar J. Desai

  2. Mark A. Krasnow is in the Department of Biochemistry and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94305-5307, USA.,

    Mark A. Krasnow

Authors
  1. Tushar J. Desai
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  2. Mark A. Krasnow
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Correspondence to Tushar J. Desai or Mark A. Krasnow.

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Desai, T., Krasnow, M. Differentiated cells in a back-up role. Nature 503, 204–205 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12706

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