Assuming there is merit to this report and assuming that these dermal cells are not doing neuron work (making predictions and/or learning) then there seems to be some value in understanding what neuron-like behavior is going on here.
If we could isolate the neuron-like stuff here, we might be able to subtract the behavior found here from the behavior of neurons in the brain allowing us to simplify operational models.
In other words, if these “non thinking” cells do a set of things and we find this same set of things in the brain, we can create simplified models by assuming (at potential peril) that behaviors found in both places are not critical to “thinking” but are rather “infrastructure” functions of the biological substrate.