Long-term expansion of human functional epidermal precursor cells: promotion of extensive amplification by low TGF-β1 concentrations

Abstract

We have previously introduced the concept of high proliferative potential-quiescent (HPP-Q) cells to refer to primitive human hematopoietic progenitors, on which transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) exerts a pleiotropic effect. TGF-β1 confers to these slow-dividing cells a mitogenic receptorlow phenotype and maintains immature properties by preventing differentiation and apoptosis. However, the effect of TGF-β1 on long-term expansion has not yet been clearly demonstrated. Here, we describe the characterization of a human skin keratinocyte subpopulation, highly enriched for primitive epidermal precursors, on the basis of high adhesion capacity (Adh+++) and low expression of the epidermal growth factor receptor (Adh+++EGF-Rlow). In our standard culture condition without feeder cells, the mean estimated output for cells from an unfractionated population of primary foreskin keratinocytes was 107-108, increasing to 1012-1013 in cultures initiated with selected Adh+++EGF-Rlow precursors. Characterization of these cells revealed a hitherto unknown property of TGF-β1: its addition at a very low concentration (10 pg/ml) in long-term cultures induces a very significant additional increase of expansion. In this optimized system, outputs obtained in cultures initiated with Adh+++EGF-Rlow cells repeatedly reached 1016-1017 (∼60 population doublings, ∼4×1018 keratinocytes produced per clonogenic cell present in the initial population). At the molecular level, this effect is associated with an increase in Smad1, Smad2 and Smad3 phosphorylation and an increase in α6 and β1 integrin expression. No such effect could be observed on mature keratinocytes with low adhesion capacity (Adh-/+). We finally demonstrated that the progeny of Adh+++EGF-Rlow precursors after long-term expansion is still capable of generating a pluristratified epidermis in a model for skin reconstruction. In conclusion, after further characterizing the phenotype of primitive epidermal precursors, we demonstrated a new function of TGF-β1, which is to promote undifferentiated keratinocyte amplification.