Cell
Volume 169, Issue 6, 1 June 2017, Pages 1119-1129.e11
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Article
Regulatory T Cells in Skin Facilitate Epithelial Stem Cell Differentiation

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2017.05.002Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • Treg activation in skin closely correlates with the HF cycle

  • Tregs localize to HFSCs and play a major role in HF regeneration

  • Tregs facilitate HFSC proliferation and differentiation to initiate HF cycling

  • Treg expression of Jagged 1 is required for efficient hair regeneration

Summary

The maintenance of tissue homeostasis is critically dependent on the function of tissue-resident immune cells and the differentiation capacity of tissue-resident stem cells (SCs). How immune cells influence the function of SCs is largely unknown. Regulatory T cells (Tregs) in skin preferentially localize to hair follicles (HFs), which house a major subset of skin SCs (HFSCs). Here, we mechanistically dissect the role of Tregs in HF and HFSC biology. Lineage-specific cell depletion revealed that Tregs promote HF regeneration by augmenting HFSC proliferation and differentiation. Transcriptional and phenotypic profiling of Tregs and HFSCs revealed that skin-resident Tregs preferentially express high levels of the Notch ligand family member, Jagged 1 (Jag1). Expression of Jag1 on Tregs facilitated HFSC function and efficient HF regeneration. Taken together, our work demonstrates that Tregs in skin play a major role in HF biology by promoting the function of HFSCs.

Keywords

regulatory T cell
skin
hair
hair follicle stem cell
Jagged 1
Notch
hair regeneration
alopecia areata

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