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Updated: May 10, 2026

Identification of Intracellular Signaling Events Induced in Viable Cells by Interaction with Neighboring Cells Undergoing Apoptotic Cell Death
Published on: December 27, 2016
Diversity training for signal transduction: leveraging cell-to-cell variability to dissect cellular signaling,
Jesse W Cotari1, Guillaume Voisinne, Grégoire Altan-Bonnet
1ImmunoDynamics Group, Program in Computational Biology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA.
Abstract:
Populations of 'identical' cells are rarely truly identical. Even when in the same state of differentiation, isogenic cells may vary in expression of key signaling regulators, activate signal transduction at different thresholds, and consequently respond heterogeneously to a given stimulus. Here, we review how new experimental and analytical techniques are suited to connect these different levels of variability, quantitatively mapping the effects of cell-to-cell variability on cellular decision-making. In particular, we summarize how this helps classify signaling regulators according to the impact of their variability on biological functions. We further discuss how variability can also be leveraged to shed light on the molecular mechanisms regulating cellular signaling, from the individual cell to the population of cells as a whole.
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