A rare cell in the lining of lungs is fundamental to the organ-wide response necessary to repair damage from toxins like those in wildfire smoke or respiratory viruses, Stanford Medicine researchers and their colleagues have found. A similar process occurs in the pancreas, where the cells, called neuroendocrine cells, initiate a biological cascade that protects insulin-producing pancreatic islet cells from damage.
Rare lung cells trigger rapid repair after smoke or virus exposure in mice—a similar pathway may exist in humans
