ArticlePLoS genetics2006
Anatomic demarcation by positional variation in fibroblast gene expression programs.
Article in PLoS genetics, 2006. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 273 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
273 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Exploring Localized Provoked Vulvodynia: Insights from Animal Model Research.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Pooled it
- Crosstalk between fibroblasts and immunocytes in fibrosis: From molecular mechanisms to clinical trials.Clinical and translational medicine · 2024Pooled it
- Prosaposin activates the androgen receptor and potentiates resistance to endocrine treatment in breast cancer.Breast cancer research : BCR · 2015Pooled it
- Conserved anterior/posterior tissue asymmetry encodes proximal/distal positional information during axolotl limb regeneration.Cell reports · 2026Article
- Whole-body single-cell atlas of an adult vertebrate in homeostasis and regeneration.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- tBid-Mediated Genetic Ablation of Connective Tissue Cells Reveals Their Key Regulatory Function During Limb Regeneration in Axolotls.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Targeting fibroblasts in immune mediated inflammatory diseases: a cellular basis for cure?Rheumatology (Oxford, England) · 2026Review
- Tissue-specific fibroblast lipid cues impose the rate of epithelial cancer invasion.Nature metabolism · 2026Article
- Article
- Single-cell spatial transcriptomic analysis of human skin anatomy.Nature genetics · 2026Article
- Signal control during tissue regeneration in adult animals.Nature reviews. Molecular cell biology · 2026Review
- A refined blueprint for human skin.Nature genetics · 2026Article
- Nanoperlite Particles Enhance Fibrogenesis in Thyroid Orbital Fibroblasts: A Potential Activated Cell Source for Ocular Tissue Engineering.BioMed research international · 2026Article
- Soluble epoxide hydrolase inhibition restores pro-resolving lipid mediators and reduces inflammation in localized provoked vulvodynia.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Article
- Nanoperlite Particles Enhance Fibrogenesis in Thyroid Orbital Fibroblasts: A Potential Activated Cell Source for Ocular Tissue Engineering.BioMed research international · 2026Article
- Therapy-imprinted fibroblast memory in cholangiocarcinoma: rewiring CAF niches for immune evasion and treatment-resistant relapse.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Phosphoproteomic profiling highlights CDC42 and CDK2 as key players in the regulation of the TGF-β pathway in ALMS1 and BBS1 knockout models.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- A cautionary tale: Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug use and localized provoked vulvodynia.The journal of pain · 2025Article
- Cisformer: a scalable cross-modality generation framework for decoding transcriptional regulation at single-cell resolution.Genome biology · 2025Article
- A single-cell spatial transcriptomic census of human skin anatomy.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
213 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Fibroblasts are ubiquitous mesenchymal cells with many vital functions during development, tissue repair, and disease. Fibroblasts from different anatomic sites have distinct and characteristic gene expression patterns, but the principles that govern their molecular specialization are poorly understood. Spatial organization of cellular differentiation may be achieved by unique specification of each cell type; alternatively, organization may arise by cells interpreting their position along a coordinate system. Here we test these models by analyzing the genome-wide gene expression profiles of primary fibroblast populations from 43 unique anatomical sites spanning the human body. Large-scale differences in the gene expression programs were related to three anatomic divisions: anterior-posterior (rostral-caudal), proximal-distal, and dermal versus nondermal. A set of 337 genes that varied according to these positional divisions was able to group all 47 samples by their anatomic sites of origin. Genes involved in pattern formation, cell-cell signaling, and matrix remodeling were enriched among this minimal set of positional identifier genes. Many important features of the embryonic pattern of HOX gene expression were retained in fibroblasts and were confirmed both in vitro and in vivo. Together, these findings suggest that site-specific variations in fibroblast gene expression programs are not idiosyncratic but rather are systematically related to their positional identities relative to major anatomic axes.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.