WNT7A and PAX6 define corneal epithelium homeostasis and pathogenesis.

ABSTRACT: The surface of the cornea consists of a unique type of non-keratinized epithelial cells arranged in an orderly fashion, and this is essential for vision by maintaining transparency for light transmission. Cornea epithelial cells (CECs) undergo continuous renewal from limbal stem or progenitor cells (LSCs), and deficiency in LSCs or corneal epithelium--which turns cornea into a non-transparent, keratinized skin-like epithelium--causes corneal surface disease that leads to blindness in millions of people worldwide. How LSCs are maintained and differentiated into corneal epithelium in healthy individuals and which key molecular events are defective in patients have been largely unknown. Here we report establishment of an in vitro feeder-cell-free LSC expansion and three-dimensional corneal di

SUBMITTER: Ouyang H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4610745 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature