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Eosinophils and mast cells: a lineage apart

Nature Immunology volume 17, pages 609–611 (2016)Cite this article

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Single-cell transcriptome analysis has identified progenitor populations with mast-cell and eosinophil potential that are distinct from the neutrophil-monocyte lineage, segregate early in hematopoietic development and can be discriminated by expression of the transcription factor GATA-1.

Mast cells and basophilic and eosinophilic granulocytes are important cell types of the innate immune system with critical roles in allergic disorders and auto-immune diseases. Since the late 19th century, when Paul Ehrlich classified these cells by their staining properties, they have been commonly grouped together with neutrophilic granulocytes and have been assumed to belong to the same developmental branch of the hematopoietic system. In line with that, current models of myelopoiesis suggest that common granulocyte-monocyte progenitors (GMPs) in the bone marrow give rise not only to monocytes and neutrophils but also to eosinophils, basophils and mast cells1. In this issue of Nature Immunology, Drissen et al. now show that a dedicated progenitor of eosinophils and basophils–mast cells is specified early in myeloid differentiation before the segregation of erythroid-megakaryocytic potential and lymphoid potential2.

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Figure 1: Current and revised models of granulopoiesis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sandrine Sarrazin is with the Centre d'Immunologie de Marseille-Luminy (CIML), Université Aix-Marseille, UM2, Campus de Luminy, Case 906, Marseille, France, the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), U1104, Marseille, France, and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), UMR7280, Marseille, France.,

    Sandrine Sarrazin

  2. Michael H. Sieweke is with the Centre d'Immunologie de Marseille-Luminy (CIML), Université Aix-Marseille, UM2, Campus de Luminy, Case 906, Marseille, France, the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), U1104, Marseille, France, the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), UMR7280, Marseille, France, and the Max-Delbrück-Centrum für Molekulare Medizin in der Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft (MDC), Berlin, Germany.,

    Michael H Sieweke

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  1. Sandrine Sarrazin
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  2. Michael H Sieweke
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Correspondence to Michael H Sieweke.

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Sarrazin, S., Sieweke, M. Eosinophils and mast cells: a lineage apart. Nat Immunol 17, 609–611 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/ni.3446

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