0000000000287135
AUTHOR
Patrizia Scapini
Frontline Science: Mast cells regulate neutrophil homeostasis by influencing macrophage clearance activity
Abstract The receptor tyrosine kinase cKit and its ligand stem cell factor are essential for mast cells (MC) development and survival. Strains with mutations affecting the Kit gene display a profound MC deficiency in all tissues and have been extensively used to investigate the role of MC in both physiologic and pathologic conditions. However, these mice present a variety of abnormalities in other immune cell populations that can affect the interpretation of MC-related responses. C57BL/6 KitW-sh are characterized by an aberrant extramedullary myelopoiesis and systemic neutrophilia. MC deficiency in KitW-sh mice can be selectively repaired by engraftment with in vitro-differentiated MC to va…
IL‐10‐producing B cells are characterized by a specific methylation signature
Among the family of regulatory B cells, the subset able to produce interleukin-10 (IL-10) is the most studied, yet its biology is still a matter of investigation. The DNA methylation profiling of the il-10 gene locus revealed a novel epigenetic signature characterizing murine B cells ready to respond through IL-10 synthesis: a demethylated region located 4.5 kb from the transcription starting site (TSS), that we named early IL10 regulatory region (eIL10rr). This feature allows to distinguish B cells that are immediately prone and developmentally committed to IL-10 production from those that require a persistent stimulation to exert an IL-10-mediated regulatory function. These late IL-10 pro…