Billions of our cells die every day to make way for the growth of new ones. Most of these goners are cleaned up by phagocytes—mobile immune cells that migrate where needed to engulf problematic substances. But some dying or dead cells are consumed by their own neighbors, natural tissue cells with other primary jobs. How these cells sense the dying or dead around them has been largely unknown.

By diverting their attention towards eating their dying neighbors, HFSCs keep inflammation-generating immune cells away

The findings have applications beyond the hair follicle, because it is only one of several areas of the body where there are few professional phagocytes around. In regions of the brain, breasts, and lungs, for example, epithelial and mesenchymal tissue cells, including stem cells, moonlight as ersatz phagocytes.

Stem cells tightly regulate dead cell clearance to maintain tissue fitness

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07855-6