The Skin Stem Cell Team is working to analyze skin epithelial stem cells and their behavior, and to elucidate their association with skin diseases, wound healing, and aging. We are also working to elucidate the pathophysiology of rare and intractable diseases such as epidermolysis bullosa and pachyonychia congenita. Past members include Mika Watanabe (Graduated in 2017, currently at the University of Turin), Yu Fujimura (Graduated in 2021, currently at KKR Sapporo Medical Center), Shota Takashima (Graduated in 2019 [Under the guidance of Associate Prof. Shinkuma at Nara Medical University], currently at UCSD), and Yunan Wang (Graduated in 2021). Current members are Hideyuki Kosumi (Graduated in 2022), Yosuke Mai (Graduated in 2022; concurrent with the Autoimmune Blistering Diseases Research Team), Keisuke Imafuku (Graduated in 2022 [Under the guidance of Prof. Iwata at Gifu University]), Takuma Nohara, and Takashi Seo.
Major research results since 2016
- Increased Bacterial Load and Expression of Antimicrobial Peptides in Skin of Barrier-Deficient Mice with Reduced Cancer Susceptibility （Natsuga et al. J Invest Dermatol 2016)
- Type XVII collagen coordinates proliferation in the interfollicular epidermis （Watanabe, Natsuga et al. eLIFE 2017)
- Loss of interaction between plectin and type XVII collagen results in epidermolysis bullosa simplex （Natsuga et al. Hum Mutat 2017）
- Type XVII collagen interacts with the aPKC-PAR complex and maintains epidermal cell polarity（Watanabe, Natsuga et al. Exp Dermatol 2021)
- Hair follicle stem cell progeny heal blisters while pausing skin development （Fujimura, Natsuga et al. EMBO Rep 2021）
- Wnt/β-Catenin signaling stabilizes hemidesmosomes in keratinocytes (Kosumi, Natsuga et al. J Invest Dermatol 2022)
- Collagen XVII deficiency alters epidermal patterning (Wang, Natsuga et al. Lab Invest 2022)
- Detection of revertant mosaicism in epidermolysis bullosa through Cas9-targeted long-read sequencing (Natsuga, Furuta et al. Hum Mutat 2022a)
- Cas9-guided haplotyping of three truncation variants in autosomal recessive disease (Natsuga et al. Hum Mutat 2022b)