Human hair follicle and interfollicular keratinocyte reactivity to mouse HPV16-transformed cells: An in vitro study

The study examined the impact of HPV16-transformed mouse TC-1 cells on normal human hair follicle and interfollicular keratinocytes. It found that TC-1 cells significantly altered keratinocyte characteristics, such as size and colony shape, and increased the expression of keratins 8 and 19, vimentin, and nucleostemin, indicating an epithelial-mesenchymal transition linked to tumor growth and spreading. These effects were not seen with control 3T3 cells. The findings suggested that fibroblastoid cells could influence epithelial cell properties and provided insights into the role of stromal cells in HPV-induced squamous cell carcinoma progression.