Keratinocyte Stem Cells: a Commentary1

p63 identifies keratinocyte stem cells.

The proliferative compartment of stratified squamous epithelia consists of stem and transient amplifying (TA) keratinocytes. Some polypeptides are more abundant in putative epidermal stem cells than in TA cells, but no polypeptide confined to the stem cells has yet been identified. Here we show that the p63 transcription factor, a p53 homologue essential for regenerative proliferation in epithe...

Keratinocyte stem cells: targets for cutaneous carcinogens.

Isolation and Cultivation of Adult Human Keratinocyte Stem Cells for Regeneration of Epidermal Sheets

Background: Keratinocyte stem cell is one of the adult stem cells that inhabits the skin and contributes to skin function and renewal. Adult stem cells are best defined by their capacity to self-renew, and to maintain tissue function for a long period of time. These findings indicate the importance of these cells for clinical applications including regenerative medicine, tissue engineering and ...

Isolation of human oral keratinocyte progenitor/stem cells.

Progenitor/stem cell populations of epithelium are known to reside in the small-sized cell population. Our objective was to physically isolate and characterize an oral keratinocyte-enriched population of small-sized progenitor/stem cells. Primary human oral mucosal keratinocytes cultured in a chemically defined serum-free culture system, devoid of animal-derived feeder cells, were sorted by rel...

Immortalized keratinocyte lines derived from human embryonic stem cells.

Cells of the human embryonic stem (hES) cell line H9, when cultured in the form of embryoid bodies, give rise to cells with markers of the keratinocyte of stratified squamous epithelia. Keratinocytes also form in nodules produced in scid mice by injected H9 cells; the hES-derived keratinocytes could be recovered in culture, where their colonies underwent a peculiar form of fragmentation. Whethe...