Role of tendon-like functions of hair follicle stem cells in the acquisition of stem cell properties

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26670533
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Dermatology
• Research Institution: Institute of Physical and Chemical Research
• Principal Investigator: Fujiwara Hironobu 国立研究開発法人理化学研究所, 多細胞システム形成研究センター, チームリーダー (20615744)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 毛包幹細胞 / 腱 / 遺伝子発現プロファイル

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Mouse hair follicle bulge stem cells acquire the stemness during development, but its mechanisms remain largely unknown. We test the significance of tendon-like function of bulge stem cells in their stemness acquisition. We performed the in-depth transcriptome analysis of adult hair follicle bulge stem cells and demonstrated that bulge stem cells highly express many tendon-related genes including Scleraxis (Scx), an essential gene for tendon morphogenesis. The expression of Scx is induced in the bulge stem cells when they start expressing stem cell marker genes. But the deletion of Scx did not show any significant phenotype in the bulge stem cells.

Free Research Field

皮膚科学