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Updated: Jan 27, 2026

Isolating Hair Follicle Stem Cells and Epidermal Keratinocytes from Dorsal Mouse Skin
Published on: April 29, 2016
Treg-Cell Control of a CXCL5-IL-17 Inflammatory Axis Promotes Hair-Follicle-Stem-Cell Differentiation During
Anubhav N Mathur1, Bahar Zirak1, Ian C Boothby1
1Department of Dermatology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Abstract:
Restoration of barrier-tissue integrity after injury is dependent on the function of immune cells and stem cells (SCs) residing in the tissue. In response to skin injury, hair-follicle stem cells (HFSCs), normally poised for hair generation, are recruited to the site of injury and differentiate into cells that repair damaged epithelium. We used a SC fate-mapping approach to examine the contribution of regulatory T (Treg) cells to epidermal-barrier repair after injury. Depletion of Treg cells impaired skin-barrier regeneration and was associated with a Th17 inflammatory response and failed HFSC differentiation. In this setting, damaged epithelial cells preferentially expressed the neutrophil chemoattractant CXCL5, and blockade of CXCL5 or neutrophil depletion restored barrier function and SC differentiation after epidermal injury. Thus, Treg-cell regulation of localized inflammation enables HFSC differentiation and, thereby, skin-barrier regeneration, with implications for the maintenance and repair of other barrier tissues.
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