Thymus cells can be reprogrammed into skin stem cells without any genetic manipulation, argue Swiss scientists in the journal Nature. Their discovery expands the existing knowledge about the biology of stem cells, and may also find therapeutic applications in the future.
Yann Barrandon and colleagues from Ecole Polytechnique F, d, rale Lausanne showed that thymic epithelial cells grown in a laboratory can be transformed into hair follicle stem cells, changing the environment in which they are grown. Moving the thymus cells into a skin-like microenvironment provides them with the necessary signals to reprogram the cells without any genetic manipulation.
The authors of the study emphasize that their discovery proves the importance of the microenvironment in determining the direction of cell differentiation and purpose. At the same time, scientists explain that thanks to their research it turned out that thymic epithelial cells are much more versatile than previously thought. (PAP)