title: Potential applications of keratinocytes derived from human embryonic stem cells.
abstract: Although skin grafting is one of the most advanced cell therapy technique, wide application of skin substitutes is hampered by the difficulty in securing sufficient amount of epidermal substitute. Additionally, in understanding the progression of skin aging and disease, and in screening the cosmetic and pharmaceutical products, there is lack of a satisfactory human skin-specific in vitro model. Recently, human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) have been proposed as an unlimited and reliable cell source to obtain almost all cell types present in the human body. This review focuses on the potential off-the-shelf use of hESC-derived keratinocytes for future clinical applications as well as a powerful in vitro skin model to study skin function and integrity, host-pathogen interactions and disease pathogenesis. Furthermore, we discuss the industrial applications of hESC-derived keratinized multi-layer epithelium which provides a human-like test platform for understanding disease pathogenesis, evaluation of new therapeutic modalities and assessment of the safety and efficacy of skin cosmetics and therapeutics. Overall, we conclude that the hESC-derived keratinocytes have great potential for clinical, research and industrial applications.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Dentistry, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: Mohammad M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Movahednia
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Dentistry, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: Fahad K
authors.initials: FK
authors.lastname: Kidwai
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: Doorgesh S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Jokhun
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Pathology, Radiology & Medicine, and Dows, College of Dentistry, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Squier
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Dentistry, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.|Tissue Engineering Program, Life Sciences Institute, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: Wei Seong
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Toh
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Dentistry, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore. dencaot@nus.edu.sg.|Tissue Engineering Program, Life Sciences Institute, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore. dencaot@nus.edu.sg.|National University of Singapore Graduate School for Integrative Sciences and Engineering (NGS), Singapore, Singapore. dencaot@nus.edu.sg.
authors.forename: Tong
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Cao
mesh_terms: D002454:Cell Differentiation; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D000066449:Human Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D006801:Humans; D015603:Keratinocytes / Q000166:cytology*; D008954:Models, Biological; D012867:Skin / Q000166:cytology; D023822:Tissue Engineering
keywords: Human embryonic stem cell; In vitro skin platform; Keratinocyte differentiation; Multi-lineage hESCepithelium