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Updated: Jun 5, 2026

Cell Population Analyses During Skin Carcinogenesis
Published on: August 21, 2013
Basal cell carcinomas arise from hair follicle stem cells in Ptch1(+/-) mice
Grace Ying Wang1, Joy Wang, Maria-Laura Mancianti
1Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute, 5700 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland, CA 94609, USA.
Abstract:
Basal cell carcinomas (BCCs) are hedgehog-driven tumors that resemble follicular and interfollicular epidermal basal keratinocytes and hence long have been thought to arise from these cells. However, the actual cell of origin is unknown. Using cell fate tracking of X-ray induced BCCs in Ptch1(+/-) mice, we found their essentially exclusive origin to be keratin 15-expressing stem cells of the follicular bulge. However, conditional loss of p53 not only enhanced BCC carcinogenesis from the bulge but also produced BCCs from the interfollicular epidermis, at least in part by enhancing Smo expression. This latter finding is consistent with the lack of visible tumors on ears and tail, sites lacking Smo expression, in Ptch1(+/-) mice.
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