Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2013 Feb;1830(2):2427-34.
doi: 10.1016/j.bbagen.2012.07.002. Epub 2012 Jul 20.

Biochemistry of epidermal stem cells

Richard L Eckert  1 , Gautam Adhikary, Sivaprakasam Balasubramanian, Ellen A Rorke, Mohan C Vemuri, Shayne E Boucher, Jackie R Bickenbach, Candace Kerr
Affiliations
Review

Biochemistry of epidermal stem cells

Richard L Eckert et al. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2013 Feb.

Abstract

Background: The epidermis is an important protective barrier that is essential for maintenance of life. Maintaining this barrier requires continuous cell proliferation and differentiation. Moreover, these processes must be balanced to produce a normal epidermis. The stem cells of the epidermis reside in specific locations in the basal epidermis, hair follicle and sebaceous glands and these cells are responsible for replenishment of this tissue.

Scope of review: A great deal of effort has gone into identifying protein epitopes that mark stem cells, in identifying stem cell niche locations, and in understanding how stem cell populations are related. We discuss these studies as they apply to understanding normal epidermal homeostasis and skin cancer.

Major conclusions: An assortment of stem cell markers have been identified that permit assignment of stem cells to specific regions of the epidermis, and progress has been made in understanding the role of these cells in normal epidermal homeostasis and in conditions of tissue stress. A key finding is the multiple stem cell populations exist in epidermis that give rise to different structures, and that multiple stem cell types may contribute to repair in damaged epidermis.

General significance: Understanding epidermal stem cell biology is likely to lead to important therapies for treating skin diseases and cancer, and will also contribute to our understanding of stem cells in other systems. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled Biochemistry of Stem Cells.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Structure of the hair follicle and the epidermis. The schematic shows hair follicle structures including the infundibulum, junctional zone, isthmus, sebaceous gland, bulge, bulb and hair shaft. The epidermal layers (basal, spinous, granulate and cornified) are also shown. The interfollicular epidermis is the stratified epidermis located between the hair follicles. The text describes various regions of these structures where specific stem cell populations, identified by specific markers, are located.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Aberdam D, Candi E, Knight RA, Melino G. miRNAs, ‘stemness’ and skin. Trends Biochem Sci. 2008;33:583–591. - PubMed
    1. Adhikary G, Chew YC, Reece EA, Eckert RL. PKC-delta and -eta, MEKK-1, MEK-6, MEK-3, and p38-delta are essential mediators of the response of normal human epidermal keratinocytes to differentiating agents. J Invest Dermatol. 2010;130:2017–2030. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Al-Hajj M, Clarke MF. Self-renewal and solid tumor stem cells. Oncogene. 2004;23:7274–7282. - PubMed
    1. Al-Hajj M, Wicha MS, Benito-Hernandez A, Morrison SJ, Clarke MF. Prospective identification of tumorigenic breast cancer cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2003;100:3983–3988. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ananthaswamy HN, Loughlin SM, Ullrich SE, Kripke ML. Inhibition of UV-induced p53 mutations by sunscreens: implications for skin cancer prevention. J Investig Dermatol Symp Proc. 1998;3:52–56. - PubMed

Publication types