Defining the Transcriptional Signature of Esophageal-to-Skin Lineage Conversion

    February 2021 in “ bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) ”
    Maria Teresa Béjar, Paula Jimenez-Gomez, Ilias Moutsopoulos, Bartomeu Colom, Seungmin Han, Fernando J Calero-Nieto, Berthold Göttgens, Irina Mohorianu, Benjamin D. Simons, Maria P. Alcolea
    Image
    Studysummary This study found that exposing adult esophageal epithelial cells to skin stroma can induce them to transition toward a hair follicle identity, with HIF1a playing a crucial role in this conversion process. Our plain-language summary of this paper — not a Tressless recommendation.
    In the study, researchers developed a 3D culture system to investigate how adult esophageal epithelial cells can change their identity when exposed to the stroma of adult skin. They found that these esophageal cells could transition towards a hair follicle identity and architecture, a process that was also replicated in vivo through heterotypic transplantation experiments. Single-cell RNA sequencing and histological analysis showed that most esophageal cells in the process of converting to skin identity remained in an intermediate state characterized by a regenerative profile and a strong hypoxic signature. The inhibition of the HIF1a pathway was identified as a key regulator of this epithelial cell plasticity, suggesting that it plays a central role in driving the cells away from their transitional state and towards complete cell fate conversion.
    Discuss this study in the Community →

    Research cited in this study

    15 / 15 results