Publications by authors named "Zurab Ninish"

Article Synopsis
  • * Researchers developed a strong protocol to culture mesothelial progenitor cells (MPCs) from pig and mouse thorax, discovering that BMP4 aids in differentiation into smooth muscle cells, while FGF2 helps expand the MPC pool but inhibits this differentiation.
  • * The study highlighted key signaling pathways involving BMP4, FGF2, and a Wnt activator (CHIR99021) that regulate MPC behaviors, offering insights into potential mechanisms underlying mesothelial cell functions and their role in conditions like mesothelioma.
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In the animal kingdom, evolutionarily conserved mechanisms known as cell competition eliminate unfit cells during development. Interestingly, cell competition also leads to apoptosis of donor cells upon direct contact with host cells from a different species during interspecies chimera formation. The mechanisms underlying how host animal cells recognize and transmit cell death signals to adjacent xenogeneic human cells remain incompletely understood.

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Whole salivary gland generation and transplantation offer potential therapies for salivary gland dysfunction. However, the specific lineage required to engineer complete salivary glands has remained elusive. In this study, we identify the Foxa2 lineage as a critical lineage for salivary gland development through conditional blastocyst complementation (CBC).

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Various patients suffer from dry mouth due to salivary gland dysfunction. Whole salivary gland generation and transplantation is a potential therapy to resolve this issue. However, the lineage permissible to design the entire salivary gland generation has been enigmatic.

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Millions suffer from incurable lung diseases, and the donor lung shortage hampers organ transplants. Generating the whole organ in conjunction with the thymus is a significant milestone for organ transplantation because the thymus is the central organ to educate immune cells. Using lineage-tracing mice and human pluripotent stem cell (PSC)-derived lung-directed differentiation, we revealed that gastrulating Foxa2 lineage contributed to both lung mesenchyme and epithelium formation.

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