Box 2 Future research perspectives
• To determine if MCs from different hematopoietic waves exhibit
distinct functions.
• To determine the developmental relationship between the MC trajectory
and other myeloerythroid lineages. Is it consistent in health and
disease?
• To identify mechanisms behind an increase in MCs at a site of
inflammation: local proliferation, survival and/or progenitor
recruitment to the site of inflammation? What chemotactic factors drive
MC progenitor recruitment in vivo?
• To get a better understanding of MC heterogeneity in different tissues
and to define the mechanisms that regulate MC plasticity.
• To understand the mechanisms for differential release of MC mediators.
• To decipher the contribution of MCs and their mediators in diseases
beyond primary MC diseases and allergy.
• To understand mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS). What are the
mechanisms? How can it be diagnosed and treated?
• Development of drugs that selectively target MCs.
• Development of new KIT-independent MC deficient models (mouse, but
also other species such as rat, ferret and guinea pig that might be
better for specific diseases), in which MC functions and contributions
to health and disease can be specifically investigated.