[HTML][HTML] Regulation of immune responses by the airway epithelial cell landscape

RJ Hewitt, CM Lloyd - Nature Reviews Immunology, 2021 - nature.com
Nature Reviews Immunology, 2021nature.com
The community of cells lining our airways plays a collaborative role in the preservation of
immune homeostasis in the lung and provides protection from the pathogens and pollutants
in the air we breathe. In addition to its structural attributes that provide effective mucociliary
clearance of the lower airspace, the airway epithelium is an immunologically active barrier
surface that senses changes in the airway environment and interacts with resident and
recruited immune cells. Single-cell RNA-sequencing is illuminating the cellular …
Abstract
The community of cells lining our airways plays a collaborative role in the preservation of immune homeostasis in the lung and provides protection from the pathogens and pollutants in the air we breathe. In addition to its structural attributes that provide effective mucociliary clearance of the lower airspace, the airway epithelium is an immunologically active barrier surface that senses changes in the airway environment and interacts with resident and recruited immune cells. Single-cell RNA-sequencing is illuminating the cellular heterogeneity that exists in the airway wall and has identified novel cell populations with unique molecular signatures, trajectories of differentiation and diverse functions in health and disease. In this Review, we discuss how our view of the airway epithelial landscape has evolved with the advent of transcriptomic approaches to cellular phenotyping, with a focus on epithelial interactions with the local neuronal and immune systems.
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