Patterning as a signature of human epidermal stem cell regulation |
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| Authors: | Allon M Klein Varvara Nikolaidou-Neokosmidou David P Doupé Philip H Jones Benjamin D Simons |
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| Affiliation: | 1.Cavendish Laboratory, JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK;2.Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School, 200 Longwood Avenue, Boston MA 02115, USA;3.MRC Cancer Cell Unit, Hutchison-MRC Research Centre, Cambridge CB2 2XZ, UK;4.Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge CB2 1QN, UK |
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| Abstract: | Understanding how stem cells are regulated in adult tissues is a major challenge in cell biology. In the basal layer of human epidermis, clusters of almost quiescent stem cells are interspersed with proliferating and differentiating cells. Previous studies have shown that the proliferating cells follow a pattern of balanced stochastic cell fate. This behaviour enables them to maintain homeostasis, while stem cells remain confined to their quiescent clusters. Intriguingly, these clusters reappear spontaneously in culture, suggesting that they may play a functional role in stem cell auto-regulation. We propose a model of pattern formation that explains how clustering could regulate stem cell activity in homeostatic tissue through contact inhibition and stem cell aggregation. |
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| Keywords: | stem cells pattern formation epidermis |
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