UC San Francisco Study Examines Role of Immune Cell in
Triggering Muscle Regrowth
UC San Francisco scientists have discovered that muscle
repair requires the action of two types of cells better known for causing
inflammation and forming fat.
The finding in mice, published in the April 11 issue of
Cell, showed that a well-known immune cell called the eosinophil [ee-oh-SIN-oh-fil] carries out the beneficial
role in two ways – by clearing out cellular debris from damaged tissue and
teaming up with a type of cell that can make fat to instead trigger muscle
regrowth.
The study, led by Ajay Chawla, MD, PhD, an associate
professor of medicine at the UCSF Cardiovascular Research Institute, showed
that after eosinophils move to the site of injury, they collaborate with a kind
of progenitor cell – immature cells similar to stem cells – to drive the
formation of new muscle fibers. The progenitors, called the fibro/adipogenic
cells (FAP), do not spin off muscle cells directly.