Dedifferentiation derived cells exhibit phenotypic and functional characteristics of epidermal stem cells

Differentiated epidermal cells can dedifferentiate into stem cells or stem cell-like cells in vivo. In this study, we report the isolation and characterization of dedifferentiation-derived cells. Epidermal sheets eliminated of basal stem cells were transplanted onto the skin wounds in 47 nude athymic (BALB/c-nu/nu) mice. After 5 days, cells negative for CK10 but positive for CK19 and β(1)-integrin emerged at the wound-neighbouring side of the epidermal sheets. Furthermore, the percentages of CK19 and β(1)-integrin(+) cells detected by flow cytometric analysis were increased after grafting (P < 0.01) and CK10(+) cells in grafted sheets decreased (P < 0.01). Then we isolated these cells on the basis of rapid adhesion to type IV collagen and found that there were 4.56% adhering cells (dedifferentiation-derived cells) in the grafting group within 10 min. The in vitro phenotypic assays showed that the expressions of CK19, β(1)-integrin, Oct4 and Nanog in dedifferentiation-derived cells were remarkably higher than those in the control group (differentiated epidermal cells) (P < 0.01). In addition, the results of the functional investigation of dedifferentiation-derived cells demonstrated: (1) the numbers of colonies consisting of 5–10 cells and greater than 10 cells were increased 5.9-fold and 6.7-fold, respectively, as compared with that in the control (P < 0.01); (2) more cells were in S phase and G2/M phase of the cell cycle (proliferation index values were 21.02% in control group, 45.08% in group of dedifferentiation); (3) the total days of culture (28 days versus 130 days), the passage number of cells (3 passages versus 20 passages) and assumptive total cell output (1 × 10(5) cells versus 1 × 10(12) cells) were all significantly increased and (4) dedifferentiation-derived cells, as well as epidermal stem cells, were capable of regenerating a skin equivalent, but differentiated epidermal cells could not. These results suggested that the characteristics of dedifferentiation-derived cells cultured in vitro were similar to epidermal stem cells. This study may also offer a new approach to yield epidermal stem cells for wound repair and regeneration.