A coordinated multicellular tissue response known as wound healing develops over time with various stages of inflammation and resolution that restore tissue integrity and homeostasis. Hu et al. published Cell Stem Cell. Examine the cellular spatiotemporal response to skin wounding to find shared transcriptional networks and methods for cell-to-cell communication that promote tissue repair. Over the course of a 14-day period, they carried out single-cell transcriptional profiling of C45 + and CD45 cells obtained from and at predetermined distances surrounding the wound site, allowing them to characterize the dynamic changes in cellular composition and gene expression programs with spatial positioning at the wounded site. Different populations of myeloid cells start to appear in the wound site as wound healing progresses, and stromal cell populations also undergo coordinated dynamic changes. Space-time correlation analyses showed reciprocal gene programs and interactions between myeloid cells and fibroblasts, which are signs of cell-to-cell communication and are responsible for both the initial inflammatory phase and tissue resolution. Importantly, the authors discovered that some spatiotemporal myeloid-fibroblast gene programs are conserved between the wound healing process and tumors when they compared the coordinated gene expression of wounded healing with tumor microenvironments. This study offers a wealth of information that can be questioned to find any co-opted cellular interactions in wound repair.Access the preview of subscription content here by going to your institution.options for
Choreographing tissue repair
