title: Functional melanocytes derived from human pluripotent stem cells engraft into pluristratified epidermis.
abstract: Melanocytes are essential for skin homeostasis and protection, and their defects in humans lead to a wide array of diseases that are potentially extremely severe. To date, the analysis of molecular mechanisms and the function of human melanocytes have been limited because of the difficulties in accessing large numbers of cells with the specific phenotypes. This issue can now be addressed via a differentiation protocol that allows melanocytes to be obtained from pluripotent stem cell lines, either induced or of embryonic origin, based on the use of moderate concentrations of a single cytokine, bone morphogenic protein 4. Human melanocytes derived from pluripotent stem cells exhibit all the characteristic features of their adult counterparts. This includes the enzymatic machinery required for the production and functional delivery of melanin to keratinocytes. Melanocytes also integrate appropriately into organotypic epidermis reconstructed in vitro. The availability of human cells committed to the melanocytic lineage in vitro will enable the investigation of those mechanisms that guide the developmental processes and will facilitate analysis of the molecular mechanisms responsible for genetic diseases. Access to an unlimited resource may also prove a vital tool for the treatment of hypopigmentation disorders when donors with matching haplotypes become available in clinically relevant banks of pluripotent stem cell lines.
authors.affiliation: Centre d'Etude des Cellules Souches, I-Stem, Association Française Contre les Myopathies, 91030 Evry cedex, France.
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Nissan
authors.forename: Lionel
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Larribere
authors.forename: Manoubia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saidani
authors.forename: Ilse
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Hurbain
authors.forename: Cédric
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Delevoye
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Feteira
authors.forename: Gilles
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lemaitre
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Peschanski
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Baldeschi
mesh_terms: D053687:Adult Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D055415:Bone Morphogenetic Protein 4 / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000187:drug effects*; D002460:Cell Line; D000078404:Epidermal Cells; D004817:Epidermis / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D017496:Hypopigmentation / Q000378:metabolism / Q000628:therapy; D008544:Melanocytes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D039904:Pluripotent Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation
chemical_list: C525809:BMP4 protein, human; D055415:Bone Morphogenetic Protein 4