A new study from UCI’s Lander Lab in the Department of Developmental and Cell Biology challenges long-held assumptions about how tissues maintain healthy cells. In fruit fly models, the team showed that immune cells actively participate in a process called cell competition, where stronger cells push out weaker or abnormal neighbors. This same mechanism may also help eliminate early tumor cells. The discovery suggests that immune-based surveillance is more deeply integrated into normal tissue maintenance than previously thought.
The study, entitled “Epithelial cell competition is promoted by signaling from immune cells”, was published in the April 2025 issue of Nature Communications, and also involved the Wunderlich lab at Boston University.