Decoding the Human Epidermal Complexity at Single-Cell Resolution

Abstract

The epidermis is one of the largest tissues in the human body, serving as a protective barrier. The basal layer of the epidermis, which consists of epithelial stem cells and transient amplifying progenitors, represents its proliferative compartment. As keratinocytes migrate from the basal layer to the skin surface, they exit the cell cycle and initiate terminal differentiation, ultimately generating the suprabasal epidermal layers. A deeper understanding of the molecular mechanisms and pathways driving keratinocytes’ organization and regeneration is essential for successful therapeutic approaches. Single-cell techniques are valuable tools for studying molecular heterogeneity. The high-resolution characterization obtained with these technologies has identified disease-specific drivers and new therapeutic targets, further promoting the advancement of personalized therapies. This review summarizes the latest findings on the transcriptomic and epigenetic profiling of human epidermal cells, analyzed from human biopsy or after in vitro cultivation, focusing on physiological, wound healing, and inflammatory skin conditions.

Deciphering “Immaturity-Stemness” in Human Epidermal Stem Cells at the Levels of Protein-Coding and Non-Coding Genomes: A Prospective Computational Approach

“…In this study, we investigated this issue taking advantage of the model of human stem and precursor cells from human interfollicular epidermis. A sum of transcriptional studies were already conducted using bulk or single cell transcriptome analysis [ 20 ] on cellular models in culture [ 16 , 19 , 21 , 22 ] or on fresh tissue [ 23 , 24 ]. Of note, the majority of these studies were carried out with a focus on the gene fraction that ensures the proteome coding (i.e., protein-coding RNAs/messenger RNAs).…”