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Recent studies have suggested that regeneration of non-haematopoietic cell lineages can occur through heterotypic cell fusion with haematopoietic cells of the myeloid lineage. Here we show that lymphocytes also form heterotypic-fusion hybrids with cardiomyocytes, skeletal muscle, hepatocytes and Purkinje neurons. However, through lineage fate-mapping we demonstrate that such in vivo fusion of lymphoid and myeloid blood cells does not occur to an appreciable extent in steady-state adult tissues or during normal development. Rather, fusion of blood cells with different non-haematopoietic cell types is induced by organ-specific injuries or whole-body irradiation, which has been used in previous studies to condition recipients of bone marrow transplants. Our findings demonstrate that blood cells of the lymphoid and myeloid lineages contribute to various non-haematopoietic tissues by forming rare fusion hybrids, but almost exclusively in response to injuries or inflammation.

Original publication

DOI

10.1038/ncb1721

Type

Journal article

Journal

Nat Cell Biol

Publication Date

05/2008

Volume

10

Pages

584 - 592

Keywords

Animals, Bone Marrow Cells, Bone Marrow Transplantation, Cell Fusion, Cell Lineage, Female, Green Fluorescent Proteins, Hematopoietic Stem Cells, Hepatocytes, Lymphocytes, Mice, Mice, SCID, Mice, Transgenic, Muscle, Skeletal, Myeloid Cells, Myocytes, Cardiac, Purkinje Cells, Radiation, Transplantation Chimera