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A Method for Lineage Tracing of Corneal Cells Using Multi-color Fluorescent Reporter Mice
Published on: December 18, 2015
Utilizing DNA mutations to trace epithelial cell lineages in human tissues.
Sebastian Zeki1, Trevor A Graham, Stuart A C McDonald
1Centre for Digestive Diseases, Blizard Institute for Cell and Molecular Science, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary, University of London, London, UK.
Methods in Molecular Biology (Clifton, N.J.)
|August 24, 2012
Summary
Identifying epithelial stem cell progeny in humans is challenging. Researchers use naturally occurring DNA mutations as clonal markers to trace cell lineage and understand cancer origins.
Area of Science:
- Cell Biology
- Oncology
- Genetics
Background:
- Epithelial stem cells are multipotential and implicated as the origin of epithelial cancers.
- Characterizing stem cell progeny in human tissues is difficult due to limitations of invasive labeling studies.
- Human studies necessitate reliance on naturally occurring clonal markers, such as somatic DNA alterations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore methods for tracing epithelial stem cell progeny in human tissues.
- To investigate the utility of naturally occurring clonal markers for identifying cell lineages.
- To understand the role of stem cells in epithelial cancer development.
Main Methods:
- Utilizing nonpathogenic mitochondrial DNA mutations in normal epithelium as clonal markers.
- Employing genomic DNA mutations in tumor suppressor genes or oncogenes in premalignant and malignant disease.
- Analyzing somatic DNA alterations to identify and characterize cell populations with shared ancestry.
Main Results:
- Nonpathogenic mitochondrial DNA mutations serve as useful markers in normal epithelium.
- Genomic DNA mutations can trace the spread of mutant clones in premalignant and malignant conditions.
- Somatic DNA alterations provide a means to identify and characterize stem cell progeny.
Conclusions:
- Naturally occurring somatic DNA alterations are crucial for tracing epithelial stem cell lineages in humans.
- These clonal markers are essential for understanding the origins and progression of epithelial cancers.
- The study highlights the importance of genetic markers in human stem cell research and oncology.
