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Hum. Reprod. Advance Access published online on March 11, 2004
Human Reproduction, doi:10.1093/humrep/deh166
© 2004 by European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology
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Received November 24, 2003
Accepted January 8, 2004

Article

Enrichment and identification of human ‘fetal’ epidermal stem cells

Jia-xi Zhou 1, Shu-yi Chen 2, Wei-min Liu 2, Yu-jing Cao 2, and En-kui Duan 2*

1 State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 25 Beisihuanxilu, Beijing 100080, People’s Republic of China; Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19 Yu-quan Road, Beijing 100039, People’s Republic of China
2 State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 25 Beisihuanxilu, Beijing 100080, People’s Republic of China

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: duane{at}panda.ioz.ac.cn.


  Abstract

BACKGROUND: Human epidermis, a continuously renewing tissue, is maintained throughout life by stem cells that proliferate and replenish worn-out or damaged cells in the tissue. Cultured human epidermal stem cells have great potential in clinical application. However, isolating and culturing a pure population of epidermal stem cells has proven to be challenging. METHODS AND RESULTS: We show that p63, a new marker for epidermal stem cells, is expressed in the basal layer of human fetal epidermis using immunohistochemistry, and that keratinocytes with the characteristics of stem cells can be isolated from the epidermis of aborted human fetuses aged >=20 weeks based on high expression of {beta}1 integrins by fluorescence-activated cell sorting. Furthermore, the enriched population showed the expression of molecular markers of putative human epidermal stem cells under a confocal microscope and a high colony formation efficiency when it was cultured at a clonal density. Under an electron microscope the sorted stem cells exhibited a high nuclear:cytoplasmic ratio and fewer organelles than the transit amplifying cells. The cultured epidermal stem cells can also be amplified and induced to terminal differentiation by suspension in vitro. CONCLUSIONS: Human ‘fetal’ epidermal stem cells have been successfully isolated and cultured in vitro. The cultured human epidermal stem cells could be used as a tool for studying stem cell biology and testing stem cell therapy.

Key words: Key words: CFE/epidermal stem cell/FACS/integrin {beta}1/p63


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