Cell Reports
Volume 40, Issue 12, 20 September 2022, 111366
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Human sensory neurons modulate melanocytes through secretion of RGMB

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2022.111366Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • Conditioned medium of human iPSC-derived sensory neurons activates melanocytes

  • Neurons secrete RGMB, which induces melanocyte morphogenesis and pigmentation

  • In human senile lentigo, neuron-melanocyte contact and neuronal RGMB is increased

  • RGMB promotes vesicle transport machinery of melanocytes

Summary

Melanocytes are surrounded by diverse cells, including sensory neurons in our skin, but their interaction and functional importance have been poorly investigated. In this study, we find that melanocytes and nociceptive neurons contact more in human skin color patch tissue than control. Co-culture with human iPSC-derived sensory neurons significantly induces morphogenesis and pigmentation of human melanocytes. To reveal melanocyte-stimulating factors secreted from neurons, we perform proteomic analyses and identify RGMB in the sensory neuron-conditioned medium. RGMB protein induces morphogenesis and melanin production of melanocytes, demonstrating that RGMB is a melanocyte-stimulating factor released from sensory neurons. Transcriptome analysis suggests that the melanosome transport machinery can be controlled by RGMB, leading us to identify the vesicle production response of melanocytes upon RGMB treatment. This study discovers a role of sensory neurons in modulating multiple aspects of human melanocytes through secretion of a key factor: RGMB.

Keywords

melanocyte
human iPS cells
nociceptors
skin
cell-cell interaction
skin color patch
sensory nerve
lentigo
secretome

Research topic(s)

CP: Developmental biology

Data and code availability

  • This paper does not report original code.

  • RNA-seq data have been deposited at GEO and are publicly available as of the date of publication. Accession numbers are listed in the key resources table.

  • Any additional information required to reanalyze the data reported in this paper is available from the lead contact upon request.

Cited by (0)

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