Human Keratinocytes Derived from the Bulge Region of Hair Follicles Are Refractory to Differentiation
April 2009
in “
International journal of oncology
”
TLDR Hair follicle cells resist turning into skin cells.
Human keratinocyte strains derived from the bulge region of hair follicles were established from 43 donors aged 24-76, showing similar growth characteristics and expressing stem cell markers like CD34. These bulge-derived keratinocytes (BDKs) were more refractory to differentiation compared to normal human epidermal keratinocytes (NHEKs), as indicated by lower keratin-10 expression and higher integrin-alpha6 expression after CaCl2-induced differentiation. Stem cell markers such as CD200, Sox2, and NANOG were significantly higher in BDKs post-differentiation. The Wnt signaling inhibitor WIF-1 decreased in BDKs but increased in NHEKs after differentiation, suggesting its role in maintaining BDKs' differentiation-refractory status. These findings imply that BDKs could be useful for studying cancer stem cells in the epidermis.