The use of ectopic volar fibroblasts to modify skin identity
Skin identity is controlled by intrinsic features of the epidermis and dermis and their interactions. Modifying skin identity has clinical potential, such as the conversion of residual limb and stump (nonvolar) skin of amputees to pressure-responsive palmoplantar (volar) skin to enhance prosthesis use and minimize skin breakdown. Greater keratin 9 (<i>KRT9</i>) expression, higher epidermal thickness, keratinocyte cytoplasmic size, collagen length, and elastin are markers of volar skin and likely contribute to volar skin resiliency. Given fibroblasts' capacity to modify keratinocyte differentiation, we hypothesized that volar fibroblasts influence these features. Bioprinted skin constructs confirmed the capacity of volar fibroblasts to induce volar keratinocyte features. A clinical trial of healthy volunteers demonstrated that injecting volar fibroblasts into nonvolar skin increased volar features that lasted up to 5 months, highlighting a potential cellular therapy.
Authors
- Kaitlin L. Williams (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8768-0488)
- Marc Ferrer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4569-9137)
- Maria Daskam (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2187-8029)
- Claudia Lee (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1715-2265)
- Evan Sweren (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6664-8174)
- D. Cho
- Yingchao Xue (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7830-3146)
- J. Vuillier
- Amy van Ee (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1277-3137)
- Luis A. Garza (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6547-9695)
- Julia Wool (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7778-5529)
- Amanda Ruci (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7575-5051)
- Lillian Xu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1173-8938)
- Sampada Iyengar
- Chen Chia Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-9491-7586)
- V. Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3171-1927)
- Paige Derr
- Soichiro Asami (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9583-3707)
- E. G. Martinez Peña (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4545-7154)
- Dongwon Kim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5740-934X)
- J. Lee
- Sooah Kim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9096-4879)
- Sewon Kang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7841-9392)
- Erika Dare
- Charles Kirby (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7756-2114)
- A. Willis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1812-5085)
- Reza Kalhor (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5558-7545)
- Kristy Derr
- Michael Wakeman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9991-3648)
- Ang Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3421-5726)
- Junwei Du (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-7157-526X)
- Joshua Kim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4449-5028)
- Junjie Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3258-0236)
- Yun Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6917-7814)
- Ruizhi Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2535-9944)
- Xu He (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-9756-1650)
- Sam Lee (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3760-8960)
- Chaewon Lee (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0277-8559)
- Jin U. Kang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5817-1935)
- Iralde Sicilia
- Dalhart T. Dobbs (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-9732-2852)
- Brooke Hardesty
- So Min Lee
Institutions
- National Institutes of Health (US)
- Johns Hopkins University (US)
- Johns Hopkins Medicine (US)
- Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (US)
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Science
- Published
- 2024-09-05
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adi1650
- Citations
- 14
- Primary Topic
- RNA regulation and disease
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 3.27
Funders
- U.S. Department of Defense
- Northrop Grumman
- Johns Hopkins University
- Sun Pharma
- Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration
- National Institutes of Health
- Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
- Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
- Center for AIDS Research, University of Washington
- Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
- Walter Reed National Military Medical Center
- Combat Casualty Care Research Program
- Center for AIDS Research, Johns Hopkins University
- Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine
- Naval Medical Center San Diego