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The Embryo Had an Earlier Rejection Gate
Primitive macrophages ate living donor cells across species; blocking the signal improved rat-pancreas generation in mice.
Summary
Primitive macrophages ate living donor cells across species; blocking the signal improved rat-pancreas generation in mice.
Science Tokyo and Stanford researchers describe xenophagocytosis, in which stressed donor cells expose phosphatidylserine and embryonic macrophages recognize it through Axl before adaptive immunity exists. Depleting host macrophages, disrupting Axl, adding the CD47 'don't eat me' signal or boosting ATP11C improved donor-cell survival. Suppression increased rat-pancreas generation in mice and human-cell survival in mouse chimeras. This remains embryo and animal research, far from transplantable human organs.
Why it matters
Primitive macrophages ate living donor cells across species; blocking the signal improved rat-pancreas generation in mice.
Limits and context
- Suppression increased rat-pancreas generation in mice and human-cell survival in mouse chimeras.
Key claims
Primitive macrophages ate living donor cells across species; blocking the signal improved rat-pancreas generation in mice.
Qualification: Suppression increased rat-pancreas generation in mice and human-cell survival in mouse chimeras.
Evidence: source-2026-08-02-012
Sources
- Cell: xenophagocytosis blockade enhances interspecies chimerismCell · secondary reporting
Corrections
No corrections have been recorded for this story.