Committed mast cell progenitors have been postulated to exist in adult mouse and human blood.
We have isolated a rare population of cells in adult mouse blood, committed to the mast cell lineage. Strikingly, the mast cell progenitors from the Th2-prone BALB/c strain expressed FcεRI to a higher degree (66 %) than mast cell progenitors from the Th1-prone C57BL/6 strain (25 %).
This may imply that mast cell progenitors from allergic patients are more mature than those from normal subjects.
See the published article: Dahlin JS, Heyman B and Hallgren J. Allergy. 2013: DOI: 10.1111/all.12223