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Review
. 2014:107:109-31.
doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-416022-4.00004-4.

Epithelial stem cells in adult skin

Ana Mafalda Baptista Tadeu  1 , Valerie Horsley  2
Affiliations
Review

Epithelial stem cells in adult skin

Ana Mafalda Baptista Tadeu et al. Curr Top Dev Biol. 2014.

Abstract

The skin is the first line of defense against dehydration and external environmental aggressions. It constantly renews itself throughout adult life mainly due to the activity of tissue-specific stem cells. In this review, we discuss fundamental characteristics of different stem cell populations within the skin and how they are able to contribute to normal skin homeostasis. We also examine the most recent results regarding the cell-intrinsic and -extrinsic components of the stem cell niche within the adult skin epithelium. Finally, we address the recent efforts to understand how abnormal regulation of stem cell activity contributes to the initiation and progression of skin-associated cancers.

Keywords: Epidermis; Hair follicle; Merkel cell; Sebaceous gland; Stem cells; Sweat gland.

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Figures

Figure 4.1
Figure 4.1
Schematic cross-section representation of mammalian skin. The skin is composed of a multitude of cell types and skin appendages that need to interact efficiently and accurately to ensure normal tissue homeostasis.
Figure 4.2
Figure 4.2
Different stem cell populations regulate normal epidermal homeostasis. Schematic representation of the different stem cell population found within different skin compartments. (A) Different lineage tracing experiment have shown that the IFE is maintained by the presence of K14+ progenitor basal cells that are able to generate the differentiated lineages that comprise the squamous epithelium of the skin. (B and C) Within the pilosebaceous unit, a slow cycling SC residing in the bulge is able to give rise to all the different HF lineages and regenerate a new hair follicle during anagen. They can also contribute to the IFE after wounding and to the SG population that is usually maintained by a resident pool of Blimp1+ slow-cycling residing progenitors. (D) In the sweat gland, a K14+ progenitor was shown to be able to regenerate a full functioning gland capable of sebum production. Finally, within the touch dome structure (E), K17+ slow-cycling cells have been shown to give rise to K18+ rapid-cycling progenitor that can further generate differentiated progeny.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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