News & Views |
Featured
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Article |
Airway hillocks are injury-resistant reservoirs of unique plastic stem cells
In the lungs, recently identified epithelial structures known as hillocks can act as injury-resistant reservoirs of stem cells.
- Brian Lin
- , Viral S. Shah
- & Jayaraj Rajagopal
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News |
Rat neurons repair mouse brains — and restore sense of smell
Scientists develop hybrid mice by filling in missing cells and structures in their brains with rat stem cells.
- Sara Reardon
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News |
‘Mini liver’ will grow in person’s own lymph node in bold new trial
Biotechnology firm LyGenesis has injected donor cells into a person with liver failure for the first time.
- Max Kozlov
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Article |
Cholinergic neurons trigger epithelial Ca2+ currents to heal the gut
A subpopulation of cholinergic neurons triggers Ca2+ currents among enterocytes to promote return to homeostasis after injury, and disruption of this process leads to gut inflammation and hyperplasia in Drosophila.
- Afroditi Petsakou
- , Yifang Liu
- & Norbert Perrimon
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Research Briefing |
Salamanders’ regenerative potential might be driven by a specific protein variant
Axolotls — aquatic salamanders with an exceptional regenerative ability — rapidly increase their production of proteins in response to wounds. An axolotl-specific evolutionary divergence in a key protein called mTOR might drive this protein response and thus the regenerative potential of these amphibians, with possible implications for improving healing in mammals.
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Article |
Evolutionarily divergent mTOR remodels translatome for tissue regeneration
Rapid activation of protein synthesis in the axolotl highlights the unanticipated impact of a translatome on orchestrating the early steps of wound healing and provides a missing link in our understanding of vertebrate regenerative potential.
- Olena Zhulyn
- , Hannah D. Rosenblatt
- & Maria Barna
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Research Briefing |
Tissue-regeneration program underlies lung-cancer suppression
How the protein p53 suppresses lung cancer, the most common cause of cancer deaths worldwide, has remained unclear. It has been found that p53 impedes the development of lung cancer by promoting a highly specific cell-differentiation program that is characteristic of normal tissue regeneration after an injury.
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Outlook |
How organoids are advancing the understanding of chronic kidney disease
Although complete human kidneys grown from scratch are many years away, organoids built from pluripotent stem cells are already helping to model the condition and suggest better treatments.
- Eric Bender
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Article |
Chemically defined cytokine-free expansion of human haematopoietic stem cells
A culture system allows the long-term expansion of human haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) in vivo without the use of recombinant cytokines or albumin, with potential applications for clinical therapies involving HSCs.
- Masatoshi Sakurai
- , Kantaro Ishitsuka
- & Satoshi Yamazaki
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Research Highlight |
Supreme regenerative skills help sea spiders to regrow guts and more
Other arthropods can regrow lost legs, but the sea spider can regenerate central organs all the way to the anus.
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Research Highlight |
Toes regrow with the help of these cells
Cells at the base of the nail are key to regeneration of missing digit tips.
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News & Views |
Senescent cells damage the body throughout life
Cells in a state of arrested growth, called senescence, have been characterized in skeletal muscle in mice. Senescent cells promote inflammation and block regeneration, and thus might induce harmful changes in aged muscle.
- David J. Glass
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Article
| Open Access
Senescence atlas reveals an aged-like inflamed niche that blunts muscle regeneration
A lifetime cartography of in vivo senescent cells shows that they are heterogeneous. Senescent cells create an aged-like inflamed niche that mirrors inflammation associated with ageing and arrests stem cell proliferation and tissue regeneration.
- Victoria Moiseeva
- , Andrés Cisneros
- & Pura Muñoz-Cánoves
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Research Briefing |
Plant-cell machinery for making metabolites transferred to mammalian cells
Supplies of the crucial molecules ATP and NADPH are lacking in many human diseases, but restoring them requires tight control. Using light-powered thylakoid structures from plants to carefully deliver these molecules to the joints of arthritic mice slowed degeneration.
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News & Views |
Neurons that promote recovery from paralysis identified
Improved treatments for spinal-cord injury require both technological development and insights into the biology of recovery. High-resolution molecular maps of the nervous system are beginning to provide the latter.
- Kee Wui Huang
- & Eiman Azim
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News |
Pioneering stem-cell trials in Japan report promising early results
The country has invested hundreds of millions of dollars into research on induced pluripotent stem cells to treat diseased organs.
- Smriti Mallapaty
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News |
Pig organs partially revived in dead animals — researchers are stunned
Scientists warn that the findings aren’t yet clinically relevant but say the research raises ethical questions about the definition of death.
- Max Kozlov
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News & Views |
Relocation sustains intestinal stem-cell numbers
A dynamic mode of stem-cell regulation has been discovered. Intestinal stem cells use migration to maintain a large pool of multifunctional cells, perhaps endowing the organ with robust responses to injury.
- Stephanie J. Ellis
- & Elaine Fuchs
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News & Views |
Nerve regrowth can be painful
Neuronal fibres have been tracked as they regrow into the skin following nerve injury in mice. The analysis reveals that mis-wiring of pain-sensing fibres generates hypersensitivity to touch in skin associated with the injury.
- Suna L. Cranfill
- & Wenqin Luo
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Article |
Human distal lung maps and lineage hierarchies reveal a bipotent progenitor
Spatial transcriptomics and single-cell profiling identify previously uncharacterized cell types of human terminal and respiratory bronchioles, and show that cell differentiation and lineage trajectories are distinct from those in the mouse lung.
- Preetish Kadur Lakshminarasimha Murthy
- , Vishwaraj Sontake
- & Purushothama Rao Tata
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Article |
Human distal airways contain a multipotent secretory cell that can regenerate alveoli
Human respiratory bronchioles contain a unique population of secretory cells called respiratory airway secretory cells that are distinct from the cells in the larger proximal airways, and act as unidirectional progenitors for alveolar type 2 cells.
- Maria C. Basil
- , Fabian L. Cardenas-Diaz
- & Edward E. Morrisey
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Outlook |
The mouth’s curative superpowers
Wounds in the mouth heal faster than in skin — and without scarring. Could unravelling the mechanisms that drive regeneration in the oral cavity lead to better wound therapies?
- Natalie Healey
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Outlook |
Stem cells
The vast potential of these building blocks of regenerative medicine is coming closer to being realized.
- Richard Hodson
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Outlook |
Stem cells and spinal-cord injuries: an intricate issue
Neuroscientist Aileen Anderson explains why cell therapy to bridge severed neurons has proved more difficult than expected.
- Lauren Gravitz
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Outlook |
Stem cells: highlights from research
Self-organizing models of the early heart, why dead cells can be therapeutic, and other studies.
- Anthony King
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Outlook |
Reversing blindness with stem cells
Regenerative therapies for the eyes could help to save vision in people with glaucoma, macular degeneration and damaged corneas.
- Neil Savage
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Outlook |
The promise and potential of stem cells in Parkinson’s disease
Treatments that replace lost neurons and restore normal movement have entered clinical trials, but these therapies could offer more relief than cure.
- Lauren Gravitz
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Article |
Acinar cell clonal expansion in pancreas homeostasis and carcinogenesis
A rare population of acinar cells expressing telomerase reverse transcriptase renew the acinar cell compartment during homeostasis, and are potential sources of premalignant cells in pancreatic carcinogenesis.
- Patrick Neuhöfer
- , Caitlin M. Roake
- & Steven E. Artandi
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Outlook |
How stem cells could fix type 1 diabetes
Trials to replace the pancreatic β cells that are destroyed by this autoimmune disease are raising hopes of a cure.
- Liam Drew
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Outlook |
Miniature organs to heal damaged livers
The start-up Bilitech hopes organoids could be used as an alternative to liver transplants, to save lives and money.
- Benjamin Plackett
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Article |
Control of osteoblast regeneration by a train of Erk activity waves
The rate of scale regeneration in zebrafish is controlled by the frequency of rhythmic travelling waves of Erk activity, which are broadcast from a central source to induce ring-like patterns of osteoblast tissue growth.
- Alessandro De Simone
- , Maya N. Evanitsky
- & Stefano Di Talia
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Nature Video |
Rewinding the biological clock helps blind mice to see
Cells in the eye appear to be ‘younger’ after treatment
- Shamini Bundell
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News & Views |
Sight restored by turning back the epigenetic clock
Neurons progressively deteriorate with age and lose resilience to injury. It emerges that treatment with three transcription factors can re-endow neurons in the mature eye with youthful characteristics and the capacity to regenerate.
- Andrew D. Huberman
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Research Highlight |
Why some animals have the power of regeneration
Newly identified genetic elements help to replace missing tails and other body parts.
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News & Views |
Stretch exercises for stem cells expand the skin
Stretching the skin of mice reveals that mechanical strain is communicated by a subpopulation of stem cells that proliferate and promote mechanical resistance, and so generate extra skin.
- Matthias Rübsam
- & Carien M. Niessen
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News & Views |
Regenerative medicine could pave the way to treating baldness
Undifferentiated human stem cells have been coaxed to develop into skin-like structures in vitro. When engrafted onto mice, the structures produce hair — highlighting the potential of the approach for regenerative therapies.
- Leo L. Wang
- & George Cotsarelis
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Article |
Patch repair of deep wounds by mobilized fascia
Cells that populate scar tissue in mammalian skin migrate to wounds as prefabricated matrix from the subcutaneous fascia, including embedded blood vessels, macrophages and peripheral nerves.
- Donovan Correa-Gallegos
- , Dongsheng Jiang
- & Yuval Rinkevich
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News |
First hint that body’s ‘biological age’ can be reversed
In a small trial, drugs seemed to rejuvenate the body’s ‘epigenetic clock’, which tracks a person’s biological age.
- Alison Abbott
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News & Views |
What makes flatworms go to pieces
Flatworms called planarians can break off fragments of themselves that regenerate to form new, complete worms. The molecular cues that regulate the frequency of such fission events have been revealed.
- Thomas W. Holstein
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Letter |
Notum produced by Paneth cells attenuates regeneration of aged intestinal epithelium
Ageing-associated decline in intestinal stem cell function is mediated by increased Notum, a protein inhibitor of stemness-maintaining Wnt signalling, which is secreted by Paneth cells.
- Nalle Pentinmikko
- , Sharif Iqbal
- & Pekka Katajisto
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Outlook |
Four technologies that could transform the treatment of blindness
A decade ago, clinicians had nothing to offer most people affected by retinal degeneration. Breakthroughs in genetics, bionics and stem-cell therapy are changing that.
- Simon Makin
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News |
‘Reprogrammed’ stem cells to treat spinal-cord injuries for the first time
Approval from Japanese regulators means that trials of induced pluripotent stem cells can begin later this year.
- David Cyranoski
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News |
Japan’s approval of stem-cell treatment for spinal-cord injury concerns scientists
Chief among their worries is insufficient evidence that the therapy works.
- David Cyranoski
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Letter |
Dynamics of oligodendrocyte generation in multiple sclerosis
There are no new oligodendrocytes in potentially remyelinated multiple sclerosis shadow plaques, although oligodendrocyte generation is increased in the normal appearing white matter of patients with aggressive disease, informing the development of new therapies.
- Maggie S. Y. Yeung
- , Mehdi Djelloul
- & Jonas Frisén
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Outlook |
Unlocking the secrets of scar-free skin healing
Skin regeneration is impeded by a host of factors. Working out the part played by each could lead to fresh approaches to treating burns and scars.
- Cassandra Willyard
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News & Views |
A neurodegenerative-disease protein forms beneficial aggregates in healthy muscle
Protein aggregation is a characteristic of several neurodegenerative diseases. But disease-associated aggregates of the protein TDP-43 have now been shown to have a beneficial role in healthy muscle.
- Lindsay A. Becker
- & Aaron D. Gitler
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Article |
TDP-43 and RNA form amyloid-like myo-granules in regenerating muscle
Cytoplasmic, amyloid-like oligomeric assemblies that contain TDP-43 are increased in damaged tissues with elevated regeneration, thereby enhancing the possibility of amyloid fibre formation and/or aggregation of TDP-43 in disease.
- Thomas O. Vogler
- , Joshua R. Wheeler
- & Roy Parker
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News & Views Forum |
Definitions for adult stem cells debated
Adult tissues must maintain themselves and regenerate after damage. But are these crucial functions mediated by dedicated populations of stem cells, or do differentiated cells adopt stem-cell-like properties according to an organ’s needs? Here, two scientists present evidence from both sides of the debate.
- Pura Muñoz-Cánoves
- & Meritxell Huch
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Article |
Mechanoresponsive stem cells acquire neural crest fate in jaw regeneration
Reversion of adult skeletal stem cells to a developmental state underlies the growth of new bone during jaw regeneration, in a process that relies on mechanotransduction via the focal adhesion kinase protein.
- Ryan C. Ransom
- , Ava C. Carter
- & Michael T. Longaker
Cells destroy donated mitochondria to build blood vessels