title: Characterization of fetal keratinocytes, showing enhanced stem cell-like properties: a potential source of cells for skin reconstruction.
abstract: Epidermal stem cells have been in clinical application as a source of culture-generated grafts. Although applications for such cells are increasing due to aging populations and the greater incidence of diabetes, current keratinocyte grafting technology is limited by immunological barriers and the time needed for culture amplification. We studied the feasibility of using human fetal skin cells for allogeneic transplantation and showed that fetal keratinocytes have faster expansion times, longer telomeres, lower immunogenicity indicators, and greater clonogenicity with more stem cell indicators than adult keratinocytes. The fetal cells did not induce proliferation of T cells in coculture and were able to suppress the proliferation of stimulated T cells. Nevertheless, fetal keratinocytes could stratify normally in vitro. Experimental transplantation of fetal keratinocytes in vivo seeded on an engineered plasma scaffold yielded a well-stratified epidermal architecture and showed stable skin regeneration. These results support the possibility of using fetal skin cells for cell-based therapeutic grafting.
authors.affiliation: A(∗)STAR Institute of Medical Biology, Immunos, Singapore 138648, Singapore; NUS Graduate School for Integrative Sciences and Engineering, Centre for Life Sciences, Singapore 117597, Singapore.
authors.forename: Kenneth K B
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: A(∗)STAR Institute of Medical Biology, Immunos, Singapore 138648, Singapore.
authors.forename: Giorgiana
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Salgado
authors.affiliation: Singapore Immunology Network, A(∗)STAR, Immunos, Singapore 138648, Singapore.
authors.forename: John E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Connolly
authors.affiliation: Department of Reproductive Medicine, KK Women's and Children's Hospital, Singapore 229899, Singapore; Cancer and Stem Cell Biology Program, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, Singapore 169857, Singapore; Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, Singapore 119228, Singapore. Electronic address: jerrychan@nus.edu.sg.
authors.forename: Jerry K Y
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.affiliation: A(∗)STAR Institute of Medical Biology, Immunos, Singapore 138648, Singapore. Electronic address: birgit.lane@imb.a-star.edu.sg.
authors.forename: E Birgitte
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Lane
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D018920:Coculture Techniques; D005333:Fetus / Q000166:cytology*; D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I / Q000378:metabolism; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007621:Karyotyping; D015603:Keratinocytes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000637:transplantation; D051379:Mice; D016513:Mice, SCID; D012038:Regeneration; D012867:Skin / Q000473:pathology; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology; D016615:Telomere / Q000378:metabolism; D014183:Transplantation, Heterologous
chemical_list: D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II