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Profiling epithelial stem cells

Nature Biotechnology volume 22, pages 393–394 (2004)Cite this article

Two reports shed light on the gene expression patterns of hair follicle stem cells.

Healthy skin and hair follicles depend on the self-renewal capacity of long-lived stem cells1. The definitive identification and characterization of these cells holds significant promise for the fields of stem cell biology, tissue regeneration, transplantation, gene therapy and cancer. In the case of skin, however, this goal has proven elusive because of a lack of specific markers and the resulting inability to isolate living epithelial stem cells. Two new reports, one in this issue2 and one in Science3, surmount this problem using distinct but complementary strategies that shed light both on the niche where these cells reside and on the gene expression patterns that distinguish them from their more differentiated neighbors.

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Figure 1: Schematic of epithelial cell regions in skin.

R. Henretta

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Program in Epithelial Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, 94305, California, USA

    Paul A Khavari

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  1. Paul A Khavari
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Khavari, P. Profiling epithelial stem cells. Nat Biotechnol 22, 393–394 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0404-393

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0404-393

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