Skin Stem Cells Orchestrate De Novo Generation of Extrathymic Regulatory T Cells to Establish a Temporary Protective Niche During Wound Healing

August 2021 in “ bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) ”

Cynthia Truong, Weijie Guo, Liberty Woodside, Audrey Gang, Peter A. Savage, Nicole R. Infarinato, Katherine Stewart, Lisa Polak, John M. Levorse, Amalia Pasolli, Stanislav Dikiy, Alexander Y. Rudensky, Elaine Fuchs, Yuxuan Miao

hair follicle stem cells regulatory T cells extrathymic differentiation CD4 effector T cells inflammatory neutrophils immune suppressive niche cutaneous wound healing

TLDR Skin stem cells help create protective immune cells during wound healing.

The study demonstrated that during cutaneous wound healing, hair follicle stem cells (HFSCs) acquired immune modulatory capabilities to create a temporary immune suppressive niche, protecting themselves from inflammatory damage. HFSCs facilitated the extrathymic differentiation of regulatory T (Treg) cells by providing co-stimulation to CD4 effector T cells in the wound. This process allowed Treg cells to be generated de novo, offering protection to HFSCs from inflammatory neutrophils. The findings highlighted the unique ability of adult tissue stem cells to adapt and shape an immune suppressive environment during wound repair.

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