title: The basement membrane of hair follicle stem cells is a muscle cell niche.
abstract: The hair follicle bulge in the epidermis associates with the arrector pili muscle (APM) that is responsible for piloerection ("goosebumps"). We show that stem cells in the bulge deposit nephronectin into the underlying basement membrane, thus regulating the adhesion of mesenchymal cells expressing the nephronectin receptor, α8β1 integrin, to the bulge. Nephronectin induces α8 integrin-positive mesenchymal cells to upregulate smooth muscle markers. In nephronectin knockout mice, fewer arrector pili muscles form in the skin, and they attach to the follicle above the bulge, where there is compensatory upregulation of the nephronectin family member EGFL6. Deletion of α8 integrin also abolishes selective APM anchorage to the bulge. Nephronectin is a Wnt target; epidermal β-catenin activation upregulates epidermal nephronectin and dermal α8 integrin expression. Thus, bulge stem cells, via nephronectin expression, create a smooth muscle cell niche and act as tendon cells for the APM. Our results reveal a functional role for basement membrane heterogeneity in tissue patterning. PAPERCLIP:
authors.affiliation: Cancer Research UK Cambridge Research Institute, Li Ka Shing Centre, UK. fiona.watt@cancer.org.uk
authors.forename: Hironobu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fujiwara
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ferreira
authors.forename: Giacomo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Donati
authors.forename: Denise K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Marciano
authors.forename: James M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Linton
authors.forename: Yuya
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hartner
authors.forename: Kiyotoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sekiguchi
authors.forename: Louis F
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Reichardt
authors.forename: Fiona M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Watt
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001485:Basement Membrane / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D000078404:Epidermal Cells; D004817:Epidermis / Q000378:metabolism; D016326:Extracellular Matrix Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D018859:Hair Follicle / Q000166:cytology*; D039001:Integrin alpha Chains / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D032389:Myocytes, Smooth Muscle / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000378:metabolism*; D051153:Wnt Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D051176:beta Catenin / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D016326:Extracellular Matrix Proteins; D039001:Integrin alpha Chains; D051153:Wnt Proteins; D051176:beta Catenin; C093856:integrin alpha8; C432915:nephronectin