Microenvironmental reprogramming of thymic epithelial cells to skin multipotent stem cells

The study from 2010 found that thymic epithelial cells (TECs) from rats could be reprogrammed to become multipotent stem cells capable of contributing to skin and hair follicle regeneration. This was achieved by exposing TECs to a skin microenvironment, which led to a change in their gene expression and function. A small percentage of TECs formed colonies with a medullary phenotype, and when transplanted, they had an 18% success rate in integrating into skin lineages across 10 independent transplants. The research suggests that TECs have the potential to cross germ layer boundaries and increase in potency due to microenvironmental cues, which could have implications for regenerative medicine and the understanding of stem cell plasticity.