背景:淋巴肌细胞(LMC)的收缩性和收集淋巴管(CLV)的覆盖率是有效淋巴引流和组织稳态的组成部分。事实上,淋巴收缩性的缺陷已经在各种条件下被发现,包括类风湿性关节炎,炎症性肠病,和肥胖。然而,LMC在这些病理过程中的基本作用是有限的,主要是由于难以直接研究这种特征不佳的细胞类型的神秘性质。LMC是一种独特的细胞类型,具有血管平滑肌细胞(VSMC)和心肌细胞的混合结构特征,具有双重强直和阶段性收缩性。虽然近年来在更好地理解LMC的生物化学和功能方面取得了进展,关于它们起源的核心问题,调查CLV,和稳态仍然没有答案。
目的:总结这些发现,无法解释的实验结果,和关键的未来方向,在这里,我们提供有关LMC祖细胞的当前知识和开放问题的重点审查,招募,维护,和再生。我们还强调了高度优先的研究目标,即识别LMC特异性基因,以进行遗传条件诱导的体内功能研究。
结论:虽然我们对LMC的兴趣集中在了解关节炎发作时的淋巴功能障碍,这些概念是淋巴生物学更广泛领域不可或缺的,并且具有通过靶向疗法控制淋巴收缩性和引流的临床翻译的重要潜力。
Lymphatic muscle cell (LMC) contractility and coverage of collecting lymphatic vessels (CLVs) are integral to effective lymphatic drainage and tissue homeostasis. In fact, defects in lymphatic contractility have been identified in various conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and obesity. However, the fundamental role of LMCs in these pathologic processes is limited, primarily due to the difficulty in directly investigating the enigmatic nature of this poorly characterized cell type. LMCs are a unique cell type that exhibit dual tonic and phasic contractility with hybrid structural features of both vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) and cardiac myocytes. While advances have been made in recent years to better understand the biochemistry and function of LMCs, central questions regarding their origins, investiture into CLVs, and homeostasis remain unanswered. To summarize these discoveries, unexplained experimental results, and critical future directions, here we provide a focused review of current knowledge and open questions related to LMC progenitor cells, recruitment, maintenance, and regeneration. We also highlight the high-priority research goal of identifying LMC-specific genes towards genetic conditional- inducible in vivo gain and loss of function studies. While our interest in LMCs has been focused on understanding lymphatic dysfunction in an arthritic flare, these concepts are integral to the broader field of lymphatic biology, and have important potential for clinical translation through targeted therapeutics to control lymphatic contractility and drainage.