A 2026 study assembled an open atlas of immune cells from four pig lymphoid tissues.
Cells from four tissues
USDA Agricultural Research Service and university researchers used single-cell RNA sequencing to study pig immune cells from bone marrow, thymus, lymph nodes and spleen. The team identified nearly 50,000 cells. Their paper appeared in Frontiers in Immunology on 4 March 2026.
An open research atlas
The investigators compared cell populations across tissues and built an online application for searching gene-expression patterns. They reported that several immune-cell groups differed by tissue, while some shared features with human immune cells. The atlas provides a research dataset rather than a vaccine or a new farm treatment.