CD133 Defines Hair-Inductive Cells in the Dermal Papilla

July 2025 in “ Scientific Reports ”

Hao Zhao, Linli Zhou, Lindsey G. Siegfried, Steven T. Boyce, Dorothy M. Supp, Thomas Andl, Yuhang Zhang

CD133 dermal papilla hair follicle fibroblasts three-dimensional spheroids alkaline phosphatase tissue-engineered skin substitutes

TLDR CD133+ cells are crucial for hair growth.

The study identifies a subpopulation of dermal papilla (DP) fibroblasts marked by CD133 as crucial for hair follicle (HF) formation. Using a transgenic mouse model, researchers isolated CD133-positive (CD133+) and CD133-negative (CD133-) DP cells, finding that CD133+ cells, when cultured in three-dimensional spheroids, maintained higher expression of DP signature genes and showed stronger alkaline phosphatase staining. In vivo experiments demonstrated that mice grafted with CD133+ DP spheroids developed more hair in healed wounds compared to those with CD133- spheroids. This highlights the potential of CD133+ DP cells to enhance human DP cell applications in tissue-engineered skin substitutes.

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