Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology, Steinbachstraße 17, 52074, Aachen, Germany.
Stem Cell Rev Rep. 2022 Jun;18(5):1668-1685. doi: 10.1007/s12015-021-10249-0. Epub 2021 Sep 13.
Corneal endothelial insufficiency is one of the leading causes of blindness. The main contemporary treatment for corneal blindness is endothelial keratoplasty, which, however, is unsatisfactory as a medical therapy due to the lack of donor corneas and graft rejection. Therefore, autologous stem cell-based corneal endothelial tissue substitutes may be a promising alternative to conventional grafts in the future. To address the age of most patients suffering from corneal endothelial deficiencies, we investigated the presence and potential of hair-derived stem cells from older tissue donors. Our studies revealed the presence of pluripotency- and neural crest-associated markers in tissue sections from blepharoplasty patients aged 50 to 80 years. In vitro outgrowths from eyelid hair follicles on collagen-coated tissue culture plates revealed a weak decrease in stem-cell potency. In contrast, cells within the spheres that spontaneously formed from the adherent cell layer retained full stem-cell potency and could be differentiated into cells of the ecto- meso and endodermal lineages. Although these highly potent hair follicle derived stem cells (HFSC) were only very slightly expandable, they were able to recognize the biomimicry of the Descemet's-like topography and differentiate into corneal endothelial-like cells. In conclusion, HFSCs derived from epidermal skin of eyelid biopsies are a promising cell source to provide autologous corneal endothelial replacement for any age group of patients.
角膜内皮功能不全是导致失明的主要原因之一。目前治疗角膜盲的主要方法是角膜内皮移植，但由于供体角膜缺乏和移植物排斥反应，这种治疗方法并不令人满意。因此，基于自体干细胞的角膜内皮组织替代物可能是未来替代传统移植物的一种有前途的方法。为了满足大多数患有角膜内皮缺陷的患者的年龄需求，我们研究了来自年龄较大的组织供体的毛发衍生干细胞的存在和潜力。我们的研究结果显示，在年龄为 50 至 80 岁的眼睑成形术患者的组织切片中存在多能性和神经嵴相关标志物。在胶原蛋白包被的组织培养板上，从眼睑毛囊中体外生长出来的细胞显示出干细胞活力的轻微下降。相比之下，自发形成于贴壁细胞层的球体中的细胞保留了完整的干细胞活力，并且可以分化为外胚层、中胚层和内胚层谱系的细胞。尽管这些高活性的毛囊衍生干细胞（HFSC）仅具有非常微弱的扩增能力，但它们能够识别类似于 Descemet 的拓扑结构，并分化为角膜内皮样细胞。总之，来源于眼睑活检的表皮皮肤的 HFSC 是一种很有前途的细胞来源，可以为任何年龄段的患者提供自体角膜内皮替代物。
