Human Keratinocytes Derived from the Bulge Region of Hair Follicles Are Refractory to Differentiation

    April 2009 in “ International journal of oncology ”
    Yusuke Sasahara, Yasuhiro Yoshikawa, Tsutomu Morinaga, Yoshiro Nakano, Nozomi Kanazawa, Joji Kotani, Shin Kawamata, Yoshinobu Murakami, Kikuko Takeuchi, Chizuko Inoue, Yukio Kitano, Tomoko Hashimoto-Tamaoki
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    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.
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