The cell cloud: Adopting systems biology concepts in the era of single-cell immunology

Article excerpt

by Tal Shay, Christophe O. Benoist, Ricardo Grieshaber-Bouyer High-throughput single-cell assays reveal data that defies discrete categorization. The ‘cell cloud’ model, grounded in established systems biology principles, offers a framework to navigate biological plasticity alongside technical variability. Immune cells exist as continuous clouds, not discrete categories. In this Perspective, authors from the Immunological Genome Project reframe immune identity through systems biology, and redirect where immunotherapies should aim: at the dynamics of the cloud, not just its center.