title: A dermal niche for multipotent adult skin-derived precursor cells.
abstract: A fundamental question in stem cell research is whether cultured multipotent adult stem cells represent endogenous multipotent precursor cells. Here we address this question, focusing on SKPs, a cultured adult stem cell from the dermis that generates both neural and mesodermal progeny. We show that SKPs derive from endogenous adult dermal precursors that exhibit properties similar to embryonic neural-crest stem cells. We demonstrate that these endogenous SKPs can first be isolated from skin during embryogenesis and that they persist into adulthood, with a niche in the papillae of hair and whisker follicles. Furthermore, lineage analysis indicates that both hair and whisker follicle dermal papillae contain neural-crest-derived cells, and that SKPs from the whisker pad are of neural-crest origin. We propose that SKPs represent an endogenous embryonic precursor cell that arises in peripheral tissues such as skin during development and maintains multipotency into adulthood.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cancer Research, Hospital For Sick Children Research Institute, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Karl J L
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Fernandes
authors.forename: Ian A
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: McKenzie
authors.forename: Pleasantine
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mill
authors.forename: Kristen M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Mahnaz
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Akhavan
authors.forename: Fanie
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Barnabé-Heider
authors.forename: Jeff
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Biernaskie
authors.forename: Adrienne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Junek
authors.forename: Nao R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.forename: Jean G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Toma
authors.forename: David R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Kaplan
authors.forename: Patricia A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Labosky
authors.forename: Victor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Rafuse
authors.forename: Chi-Chung
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Hui
authors.forename: Freda D
authors.initials: FD
authors.lastname: Miller
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002642:Chick Embryo; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000166:cytology; D047108:Embryonic Development; D006197:Hair / Q000166:cytology; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D051379:Mice; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012867:Skin / Q000166:cytology*; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*