Development is so fundamental that there are striking similarities and precision in the developmental processes of very different organisms. The complex process of organogenesis and development is composed of active cell-cell communication. Cells employ different signals to coordinate growth and establish tissue pattern. These signaling proteins, produced in the signal center, are distributed across time and space with precision. They can disperse over long distances and only signal to selective targets. The mechanisms underlying this directional, regulated, long range transport have fascinated researchers for many years. Stem cells represent natural source of tissue development and are able to alter their metabolic profiles to achieve capability of continuous growth. They communicate with their microenvironment, neighbors and even their daughter cells to sustain their capability of self-renewal and differentiation into cells that constitute functional units. Their behaviors are also systemically influenced by other organs.
How recipient cells find distant signaling targets and mechanisms underlying regulated delivery remain elusive. The production, transport, distribution or reception of metabolites and signaling proteins are not fully explored. Alteration in these processes leads to developmental abnormality or metabolic diseases. Signaling proteins and metabolites can be ferried by contact-dependent paracrine signaling or be packaged into extracellular vesicles. How those different delivery methods influence each other remains to be understood. A thorough understanding of these regulations would afford us potential control of these disorders.
We welcome the studies of mechanisms governing cell-cell communication, investigations that elucidate systemic regulation in inter-tissue communication and research that investigates the diseases caused by abnormal intercellular communication. We would like to invite the submission of Original Research Articles, Reviews, and Mini-reviews, including but not limited to the following subtopics:
• Inter-tissue communication in stem cell activation;
• Interplay between endocrine and paracrine signaling;
• Mechanism of metabolic disorders caused by aberrant intercellular communication;
• Technologies to decipher the mechanism of cell-cell communication.
Keywords:
endocrine signaling, paracrine signaling, intercellular signaling, metabolic disorders
Important Note:
All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
Development is so fundamental that there are striking similarities and precision in the developmental processes of very different organisms. The complex process of organogenesis and development is composed of active cell-cell communication. Cells employ different signals to coordinate growth and establish tissue pattern. These signaling proteins, produced in the signal center, are distributed across time and space with precision. They can disperse over long distances and only signal to selective targets. The mechanisms underlying this directional, regulated, long range transport have fascinated researchers for many years. Stem cells represent natural source of tissue development and are able to alter their metabolic profiles to achieve capability of continuous growth. They communicate with their microenvironment, neighbors and even their daughter cells to sustain their capability of self-renewal and differentiation into cells that constitute functional units. Their behaviors are also systemically influenced by other organs.
How recipient cells find distant signaling targets and mechanisms underlying regulated delivery remain elusive. The production, transport, distribution or reception of metabolites and signaling proteins are not fully explored. Alteration in these processes leads to developmental abnormality or metabolic diseases. Signaling proteins and metabolites can be ferried by contact-dependent paracrine signaling or be packaged into extracellular vesicles. How those different delivery methods influence each other remains to be understood. A thorough understanding of these regulations would afford us potential control of these disorders.
We welcome the studies of mechanisms governing cell-cell communication, investigations that elucidate systemic regulation in inter-tissue communication and research that investigates the diseases caused by abnormal intercellular communication. We would like to invite the submission of Original Research Articles, Reviews, and Mini-reviews, including but not limited to the following subtopics:
• Inter-tissue communication in stem cell activation;
• Interplay between endocrine and paracrine signaling;
• Mechanism of metabolic disorders caused by aberrant intercellular communication;
• Technologies to decipher the mechanism of cell-cell communication.
Keywords:
endocrine signaling, paracrine signaling, intercellular signaling, metabolic disorders
Important Note:
All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.