Biomarkers for Progenitor and Differentiated Epithelial Cells in the Human Meibomian Gland.
The meibomian gland (MG) is a sebaceous gland that secretes through a holocrine process. Because such secretion requires the destruction of MG acinar epithelial cells, they need constant renewal and differentiation. The processes that promote these regenerative events in the human MG are unknown, nor is it known how to distinguish MG progenitor and differentiated cells. We discovered that Lrig1 and DNase2 serve as biomarkers for human MG progenitor and differentiated cells, respectively. Lrig1 is expressed in MG basal epithelial cells in the acinar periphery, a location where progenitor cells originate in sebaceous glands. DNase2 is expressed in the differentiated epithelial cells of the MG central acinus. Furthermore, proliferation stimulates, and differentiation suppresses, Lrig1 expression in human MG epithelial cells. The opposite is true for DNase2 expression. Our biomarker identification may have significant value in clinical efforts to restore MG function and to regenerate MGs after disease-induced dropout. Stem Cells Translational Medicine 2018;7:887-892.
['Xie|Hua-Tao|HT|', 'Sullivan|David A|DA|', 'Chen|Di|D|', 'Hatton|Mark P|MP|', 'Kam|Wendy R|WR|', 'Liu|Yang|Y|0000-0002-2598-0936']
D000368:Aged D000369:Aged, 80 and over D015415:Biomarkers D002454:Cell Differentiation D049109:Cell Proliferation D003851:Deoxyribonucleases D004847:Epithelial Cells D005260:Female D006801:Humans D008297:Male D008537:Meibomian Glands D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence D013234:Stem Cells
Differentiation Proliferation Stem cell plasticity Stem/progenitor cell