Identification of stem cell populations in sweat glands and ducts: roles in homeostasis and wound repair

Sweat glands are abundant glands of our body and essential for thermoregulation. Like mammary glands, they originate from epidermal progenitors. However, they display few signs of cellular turnover, and whether they have stem cells and tissue regenerative capacity remain largely unexplored. Here we address these issues. Using lineage-tracing, we identify multipotent progenitors in sweat duct that transition to unipotency after developing the sweat gland. In characterizing four adult stem cell populations of glandular skin, we show that they display distinct regenerative capabilities and remain unipotent when healing epidermal, myoepithelial-specific and luminal-specific injuries. We devise purification schemes, isolate and transcriptionally profile progenitors. Exploiting molecular differences between sweat and mammary glands, we show that only some progenitors regain multipotency to produce de novo ductal and glandular structures, but that these can retain their identity even within certain foreign microenvironments. Our findings provide new concepts about glandular stem cells and sweat gland biology.

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Lu CP, Polak L, Rocha AS, Pasolli HA, Chen SC, Sharma N, Blanpain C, Fuchs E