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The mesothelial cell

The mesothelial cells line the serosal cavities of the body, the pleural, peritoneal and pericardial spaces. Geographically, across the serosal surfaces, mesothelial cells canbe seen to have a variety of morphologies between flat or cuboidal and showing few or a dense forest of microvilli.
Although their important in vivo functions have not been identified, they have the potential to regulate cell traffic, the balance between coagulation and fibrinolysis, cell proliferation, and fibrogenesis within and around the pleural space.
They likely represent the progenitor cell for mesothelioma.
In in vitro studies, the mesothelial cell demonstrates a multitude of abilities. Mesothelial cells can produce most of the components of the submesothelial matrix, at amounts comparable to that of fibroblasts.
They can also release growth factors such as TGF-beta and insulin-like growth factorI.
The cells may regulate the fibrinolytic and procoagulant activities on their cell surface and in the pleural space.
They express the urokinase plasminogen activator receptor, which may regulate local fibrinolysis as well as cell prolif- eration.
They produce a number of chemotactic factors, including IL-8 and MCP-1, that may help regulate influx of neutrophils and monocytes to the pleural space.
They express adhesion molecules including ICAM-1, VCAM-1 and PECAM-1 that could function to assist cell movement into the pleural space, and integrins that participate in phagocytosis of material, including asbestos.
Mesothelial cells bind to each other by means that do not produce a tight barrier to movement of liquid or protein this leaky barrier, which allows successful dialysis across the peritoneal mesothelium, may also allow movement of cytokines, of cells and perhaps of asbestos itself into the pleural space.

MESOTHELIOMA CANSER INFO

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