Human keratinocyte stem cells: From cell biology to cell therapy

Stem cells, both embryonic and adult, due to the potential for application in tissue regeneration have been the target of interest to the world scientific community. In fact, stem cells can be considered revolutionary in the field of medicine, especially in the treatment of a wide range of human diseases. However, caution is needed in the clinical application of such cells and this is an issue that demands more studies. This paper will discuss some controversial issues of importance for achieving cell therapy safety and success. Particularly, the following aspects of stem cell biology will be presented: methods for stem cells culture, teratogenic or tumorigenic potential, cellular dose, proliferation, senescence, karyotyping, and immunosuppressive activity.

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Automated collective motion analysis validates human keratinocyte stem cell cultures

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-019-55279-4 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Koji Kinoshita ◽

Takuya Munesue ◽

Fujio Toki ◽

Masaharu Isshiki ◽

Shigeki Higashiyama ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Image Processing ◽

Stem Cells ◽

Stem Cell ◽

Cell Cultures ◽

High Throughput Screening ◽

Proliferative Potential ◽

Processing Pipeline ◽

Human Keratinocyte ◽

Locomotion Speed ◽

Keratinocyte Stem Cells

AbstractIdentification and quality assurance of stem cells cultured in heterogeneous cell populations are indispensable for successful stem cell therapy. Here we present an image-processing pipeline for automated identification and quality assessment of human keratinocyte stem cells. When cultivated under appropriate conditions, human epidermal keratinocyte stem cells give rise to colonies and exhibit higher locomotive capacity as well as significant proliferative potential. Image processing and kernel density estimation were used to automatically extract the area of keratinocyte colonies from phase-contrast images of cultures containing feeder cells. The DeepFlow algorithm was then used to calculate locomotion speed of the colony area by analyzing serial images. This image-processing pipeline successfully identified keratinocyte stem cell colonies by measuring cell locomotion speed, and also assessed the effect of oligotrophic culture conditions and chemical inhibitors on keratinocyte behavior. Therefore, this study provides automated procedures for image-based quality control of stem cell cultures and high-throughput screening of small molecules targeting stem cells.

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Vanillin protects human keratinocyte stem cells against Ultraviolet B irradiation

Food and Chemical Toxicology ◽

10.1016/j.fct.2013.10.031 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 63 ◽

pp. 30-37 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Jienny Lee ◽

Jae Youl Cho ◽

Sang Yeol Lee ◽

Kyung-Woo Lee ◽

Jongsung Lee ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Stem Cells ◽

Ultraviolet B ◽

Human Keratinocyte ◽

Ultraviolet B Irradiation ◽

Keratinocyte Stem Cells

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Cell motion predicts human epidermal stemness

The Journal of Cell Biology ◽

10.1083/jcb.201409024 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 209 (2) ◽

pp. 305-315 ◽

Cited By ~ 32

Author(s):

Daisuke Nanba ◽

Fujio Toki ◽

Sota Tate ◽

Matome Imai ◽

Natsuki Matsushita ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Stem Cells ◽

Image Analysis ◽

Cell Movement ◽

Noninvasive Evaluation ◽

Cell Stage ◽

Clonal Type ◽

Human Keratinocyte ◽

Cell Motion ◽

First Time ◽

Keratinocyte Stem Cells

Image-based identification of cultured stem cells and noninvasive evaluation of their proliferative capacity advance cell therapy and stem cell research. Here we demonstrate that human keratinocyte stem cells can be identified in situ by analyzing cell motion during their cultivation. Modeling experiments suggested that the clonal type of cultured human clonogenic keratinocytes can be efficiently determined by analysis of early cell movement. Image analysis experiments demonstrated that keratinocyte stem cells indeed display a unique rotational movement that can be identified as early as the two-cell stage colony. We also demonstrate that α6 integrin is required for both rotational and collective cell motion. Our experiments provide, for the first time, strong evidence that cell motion and epidermal stemness are linked. We conclude that early identification of human keratinocyte stem cells by image analysis of cell movement is a valid parameter for quality control of cultured keratinocytes for transplantation.

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