Keratinocyte stem cell assays: An evolving science

Abstract

Although the existence of epithelial stem cells in the skin has been known for some decades from cell kinetic studies performed in vivo, attempts to prospectively isolate these cells for further biological characterization have been made possible relatively recently facilitated by the availability of antibodies that detect cell surface markers on epidermal cells. Elegant gene marking studies in vivo have provided confirmation of the patterns of epithelial tissue replacement predicted by classical cell turnover studies. But, the identification of candidate epidermal stem cells ex vivo remains an area of great controversy, requiring the re-evaluation of current experimental approaches that rel..