December 2025 in “The Journal of Cell Biology” This study found that keratin 15 lacks the ability to sequester YAP1 in keratinocytes effectively, unlike keratin 14, and suggests that a higher K15:K14 ratio may promote a progenitor state and inhibit differentiation in epidermal keratinocytes.
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September 2019 in “bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)” In this study, researchers identified at least four distinct basal stem cell populations in the human interfollicular epidermis, each crucial for maintaining epidermal communication and homeostasis.
February 2025 in “bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)” This study proposes a model suggesting that the ratio of keratin 15 to keratin 14 in epidermal keratinocytes promotes a progenitor state and opposes differentiation, based on insights from both cell culture and transgenic mouse models.
April 2023 in “Journal of Investigative Dermatology” In this study, researchers developed a detailed spatial atlas of healthy human skin and basal cell carcinoma, revealing that basal cell carcinoma likely originates from hair follicles and involves expansion of specific fibroblast subpopulations found in healthy skin.
This research reports that after genotoxic stress from ionizing radiation or chemotherapy, hair follicles can utilize progenitor cells from transit-amplifying compartments, not quiescent stem cells, for repair, suggesting a potential therapeutic approach to prevent therapy-induced hair loss by activating these progenitors.