Epithelial cells are continuously sloughed into the environment and replaced by similar cells from underneath. This coordinated homeostasis is maintained by a subpopulation of keratinocyte stem cells with high proliferative potential, located at the basal layer of the epidermis and thought to remain in the tissue for life. Identifying and isolating epidermal stem cells has proven difficult, and the lack of a widely accepted method has hampered their potential for use in tissue engineering, wound repair, gene therapy, and as cell therapy agents. In the October 15
As keratinocytes mature and migrate from basal into suprabasal ...
