Cellular Stiffness as a Novel Stemness Marker in the Corneal Limbus.

ABSTRACT: Healthy eyes contain a population of limbal stem cells (LSCs) that continuously renew the corneal epithelium. However, each year, 1 million Americans are afflicted with severely reduced visual acuity caused by corneal damage or disease, including LSC deficiency (LSCD). Recent advances in corneal transplant technology promise to repair the cornea by implanting healthy LSCs to encourage regeneration; however, success is limited to transplanted tissues that contain a sufficiently high percentage of LSCs. Attempts to screen limbal tissues for suitable implants using molecular stemness markers are confounded by the poorly understood signature of the LSC phenotype. For cells derived from the corneal limbus, we show that the performance of cell stiffness as a stemness indicator is on par with the

SUBMITTER: Bongiorno T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5072985 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature