Hair follicle stem cell progeny heal blisters while pausing skin development
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ABSTRACT: Injury in adult tissue generally reactivates developmental programs to foster regeneration, but it is not known whether this paradigm applies to growing tissue. Here, by employing blisters, we show that epidermal wounds heal at the expense of skin development. The regenerated epidermis suppresses the expression of tissue morphogenesis genes accompanied by delayed hair follicle (HF) growth. Lineage tracing experiments, cell proliferation dynamics, and mathematical modeling reveal that the progeny of HF junctional zone stem cells, which undergo a morphological transformation, repair the blisters while not promoting HF development. In contrast, the contribution of interfollicular stem cell progeny to blister healing is small. These findings demonstrate that tissue development can be sacrificed for the sake of wound regeneration and suggest that tissue repair does not coincide with the reactivation of developmental programs in all regenerative contexts. Our study elucidates the key cellular mechanism of wound healing in skin blistering diseases.
Project description:Burn wound blister fluid is a valuable matrix for understanding the biological pathways associated with burn injury. In this study, 152 blister fluid samples collected from paediatric burn wounds at two different hospitals were analysed using mass spectrometry proteomic techniques. The protein abundance profile at different days post-burn indicated that there were more proteins associated with cellular damage/repair in the first 24 hours, whereas after this point there were more proteins associated with antimicrobial defence and inflammation. The inflammatory proteins persisted at a high level in the blister fluid for more than 7 days. This may indicate that removal of burn blisters prior to two days post-burn is optimal to prevent excessive or prolonged inflammation in the wound environment. Additionally, many proteins associated with the neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) pathway were increased post-burn, further implicating NETs in the post-burn inflammatory response. NET inhibitors may therefore be a potential treatment to reduce post-burn inflammation and coagulation pathology and enhance burn wound healing outcomes.
Project description:Adult mammalian skin wound healing is typically accompanied by fibrotic scar that impairs normal skin function and regeneration of skin appendages. Interestingly, however, in adult mice, large severe skin injuries exhibit de novo formation of HFs following severe skin injuries (a phenomenon termed wound-induced HF neogenesis, WIHN). Understanding the competent cell types and molecular mechanisms that enable regenerative wound healing will be critical for developing treatments that restore skin function after injury. We described the existence of an adult bipotent hair follicle dermal stem cell (hfDSC) that functions to regenerate the connective tissue sheath and to populate the DP with new cells (Rahmani et al., 2014). Based on this, we hypothesized that the mesenchymal cells comprised within the neogenic HFs might originate from hfDSCs. To test this, we employed αSMACreERT2:ROSAYFP and Hic1CreERT2:TDTmt mice to examine the contribution of hfDSCs or hfDSCs and reticular/hypodermal progenitors, respectively, to the formation of neodermis and regeneration of de novo HFs. Mice received full-thickness excision wounds (>1 cm2) and then harvested at 18-140 days post-wounding (dpw). αSMA+ve and Hic1-lineage cells were activated upon wounding, migrated into the wound, and contributed to both DP and DS in almost all de novo-formed HFs. Surprisingly, hfDSCs contributed only a minority of cells (20%) to nascent DP cells, whereas Hic1-lineage cells generated >90% of the neogenic DP cells. In both cases, cells integrating into neogenic HF mesenchyme appeared to restore the hfDSC pool, since they repopulated the neogenic mesenchyme over successive regenerative hair cycles. Finally, using an ex vivo HF formation assay, we found that prospectively isolated extrafollicular Hic-lineage cells could participate in HF formation when exposed to a permissive environment. Our data reveal that despite their origin in the reticular/hypodermis, Hic1-lineage dermal progenitors are able to adopt a regenerative response during wound healing if provided with a permissive local environment.
Project description:The full complement of hair follicles is generated during embryogenesis. Normally, no new hair is created after this time. Large full thickness skin excision wounding can result in the generation of new hair in the adult. Placodes can be observed following complete reepithelialization at wound day 14. The events leading to hair neogenesis following wounding remain poorly understood. Late healing events (from wound day 10 to wound day 14) provide a possible window of induction for hair regeneration. We used microarrays to analyse changes in gene expression during late skin healing to provide candidates for factors involved in hair neogenesis following wounding. 6 week old C57Bl/6 mice received large full thickness skin excisions. Healing wound tissue was excised at wound day 10, 12 or 14 and analyzed for gene expression.
Project description:Skin wound healing due to full thickness wounds typically results in fibrosis and scarring, where parenchyma tissue is replaced with connective tissue. A major advance in wound healing research would be to instead promote tissue regeneration. Helminth parasites express excretory/secretory (ES) molecules, which can modulate mammalian host responses. One recently discovered ES protein, TGF-β mimic (TGM), binds the TGF- receptor, though likely has other activities. Here we demonstrate that topical administration of TGM under a Tegaderm bandage enhanced wound healing and tissue regeneration in an in vivo wound biopsy model. Increased restoration of normal tissue structure in the wound beds of TGM-treated mice was observed during mid- to late-stage wound healing. Both accelerated re-epithelialization and hair follicle regeneration were observed. Further analysis showed differential expansion of myeloid populations at different wound healing stages, suggesting recruitment and reprogramming of specific macrophage subsets. This study indicates a role for TGM as a potential therapeutic option for enhanced wound healing.
Project description:Impaired skin wound healing is a significant global health issue, especially among the elderly. Wound healing is a well-orchestrated process involving the sequential phases of inflammation, proliferation, and tissue remodeling. Although wound healing is a highly dynamic and energy-requiring process, the role of metabolism remains largely unexplored. By combining transcriptomics and metabolomics of human skin biopsy samples, we mapped the core bioenergetic and metabolic changes in normal acute as well as chronic wounds in elderly subjects. We found upregulation of glycolysis, the tricarboxylic acid cycle, glutaminolysis, and β-oxidation in the later stages of acute wound healing and in chronic wounds. To ascertain the role of these metabolic pathways on wound healing, we targeted each pathway in a wound healing assay as well as in a human skin explant model using metabolic inhibitors and stimulants. Enhancement or inhibition of glycolysis and, to a lesser extent, glutaminolysis had a far greater impact on wound healing than similar manipulations of oxidative phosphorylation and fatty acid β-oxidation. These findings increase the understanding of wound metabolism and identify glycolysis and glutaminolysis as potential targets for therapeutic intervention.
Project description:Adult mammalian skin wound healing is typically accompanied by a fibrotic scar that impairs normal skin function and regeneration of skin appendages. Interestingly, however, in adult mice, large skin injuries exhibit de novo formation of hair follicles (HFs, a phenomenon termed wound-induced HF neogenesis) in the center of the wound. Our previous analysis provides compelling evidence suggesting that regional epigenetic changes within the mesenchymal cells of the skin may underlie the divergent response to wound healing. To test this directly, we performed single-cell Assay for Transposase-Accessible Chromatin using Sequencing (sc-ATAC-Seq) on cells isolated from the center of large wounds to identify regions of the genome that are becoming differentially accessible within upper (epithelial-interfacing) fibroblasts as they transition to induce new HFs compared to their lower dermal counterparts that adopt a fibrotic phenotype. Together, our data reveals the identity and dynamics of key coding, non-coding, and regulatory regions that underlie a wound responsive fibroblasts' transition to inductive neodermal condensate cells.
Project description:Thrombosponin-4 (THBS4) is a non-structural extracellular matrix molecule associated with tissue regeneration and a variety of pathological processes characterized by increased cell proliferation and migration. However, the mechanisms of how THBS4 regulates cell behaviour as well as the pathways contributing to its effects have remained largely unexplored. In the present study we investigated the role of THBS4 in skin regeneration both in vitro and in vivo. We found that THBS4 expression was upregulated in the dermal compartment of healing skin wounds in humans as well as in mice. Application of recombinand THBS4 protein promoted cutaneous wound healing in mice and selectively stimulated migration of primary fibroblasts as well as proliferation of keratinocytes in vitro. By using a combined proteotranstriptomic pathway analysis approach we discovered that beta-catenin acted as a hub for THBS4-dependent cell signaling and likely plays a key role in promoting its downstream effects. Out results suggest that THBS4 is an important contributor to wound healing and its incorporation into novel wound healing therapies may be a promising strategy for treatment of hard-to-heal wounds.
Project description:Wound healing is a complex process regulated by various cell types and a plethora of mediators. While interactions between wounded skin and the hair follicles (HFs) could induce HF neogenesis or promote wound healing, it remains unknown whether the wound healing-associated signaling milieu can be manipulated to protect against alopecia, such as chemotherapy-induced alopecia (CIA). Utilizing a well-established neonatal rat model of CIA, we show here that skin wounding protects from alopecia caused by several clinically relevant chemotherapeutic regimens, and that protection is dependent on the time of wounding and hair cycle stage. Gene expression profiling unveiled a significant increase in interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) mediated signaling by skin wounding. Subsequently, we showed that IL-1β is sufficient and indispensable for mediating the CIA-protective effect. Administration of IL-1β alone to unwounded rats exhibited local CIA protection while IL-1β neutralization abrogated CIA protection by wounding. Mechanistically, IL-1β retarded postnatal HF morphogenesis, making HFs at the wound sites or IL-1β treated areas damage-resistant while the rats developed total alopecia elsewhere. We conclude that wound healing switches the cutaneous cytokine milieu to an IL-1β-dominated state thus retarding HF growth progression and rendering the HFs resistant to chemotherapy agents. In the future, manipulation of HF progression through interfering with the IL-1β signaling milieu may provide therapeutic benefits to a variety of conditions, from prevention of CIA to inhibition of hair growth and treatment of hirsutism. In this experiment, we used the Rat MI-Ready array comprised of over 34,000 transcript probes for gene and alternative splice products in ENSEMBL release 37 to profile gene expression changes during acute wound healing in rat skin. 16,198 Selected rat probes were above threshold in at least one group. 3,239 significant genes were found (FDR < 0.1).
Project description:Adipocytes in dermis are considered to be important participants in skin repair and regeneration, but the role of subcutaneous white adipose tissue (sWAT) in skin repair is poorly understood. Here, we revealed the dynamic changes of sWAT during wound healing process. Lineage tracing mouse studies revealed that adipocytes from sWAT would migrate into the wound bed and participate in the formation of granulation tissue. Moreover, sWAT undergoes beiging after skin injury. Inhibition of sWAT beiging by genetically silencing PRDM16, a key regulator to beiging, hindered wound healing process. The transcriptomics results suggested beige adipocytes in sWAT abundantly express neuregulin 4 (Nrg4) which regulated macrophage polarization and the function of myofibroblasts. In diabetic wounds, the beiging of sWAT was significantly suppressed. Thus, adipocytes from sWAT regulate multiple aspects of repair and may be therapeutic for inflammatory diseases and defective wound healing associated with aging and diabetes.
Project description:Skin-injury and several diseases elicit fibrosis and induce hair follicle (HF)-growth arrest and loss. Resulting alopecia and disfiguration represent a severe burden for patients both physically and psychologically. Reduction of pro-fibrotic factors such as DPP4 might be a strategy to tackle this issue. We demonstrate DPP4-overrepresentation in settings with HF-growth arrest (telogen), HF-loss and non-regenerative wound areas in mice skin and human scalp. Topical DPP4-inhibition (DPP4i) with FDA/EMA-approved Sitagliptin (Sit) on preclinical models of murine HF-activation/regeneration results in accelerated anagen-progress, while treatment of wounds with Sit results in reduced expression of fibrosis markers, increased induction of anagen around wounds, and HF-regeneration in the wound center. These effects are associated with higher expression of Wnt-target Lef1, known to be required for HF-anagen (HF-activation)/regeneration. Sit-treatment decreases pro-fibrotic signaling in the skin, induce a differentiation trajectory of HF-cells, and activate Wnt-targets related to HF-activation/growth but not those supporting fibrosis. Taken together, our study demonstrates a role for DPP4 in HF biology and shows how DPP4i, currently used as oral medication to treat diabetes, could be repurposed into a topical treatment agent to potentially reverse HF-loss in alopecia and after injury.