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Critical Review: What Cell Types Are the Lung Telocytes?
Author(s) -
Rusu Mugurel C.,
Hostiuc Sorin,
Fildan Ariadna P.,
Tofolean Doina E.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
the anatomical record
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.678
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1932-8494
pISSN - 1932-8486
DOI - 10.1002/ar.24237
Subject(s) - progenitor cell , lymphatic endothelium , stromal cell , cell type , stem cell , biology , phenotype , endothelial stem cell , microbiology and biotechnology , lineage (genetic) , progenitor , lung , cell , mesenchymal stem cell , lymphatic system , pathology , immunology , cancer research , medicine , in vitro , genetics , gene
ABSTRACT Telocytes (TCs) are stromal cells defined by peculiar long, thin, moniliform prolongations known as telopodes. When isolated, their morphology often lacks the specificity for the proper definition of a particular cell type. Recent studies have linked TCs with different functions and different cell lineages. Although some authors have studied pulmonary TCs, their research has important limitations that we will attempt to summarize in this article. We will focus our analysis on the following: the culture methods used to study them, the lack of proper discrimination of TCs from lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs), whose ultrastructures are very similar, and the immune phenotype of TCs, which may appear in other cell types such as those related to the endothelial lineage or stem/progenitor cells. In conclusion, the cellular diagnosis of lung TCs should be considered with caution until properly designed studies can positively identify these cells and differentiate them from other cell types such as LECs and stem/progenitor cells. Anat Rec, 303:1280–1292, 2020. © 2019 American Association for Anatomy