Elucidation of the role of cell polarity in hair follicle stem cells through hemidesmosomal components

细胞极性在无脊椎动物和哺乳动物干细胞的分化和增殖中起着重要的功能作用，但其在毛囊干细胞中的功能和维持目前尚不清楚。COL17A1是一种半桥粒跨膜蛋白，在维持细胞内和细胞外结构元件之间的联系方面起着关键作用，参与了表皮的黏附。此前，我们已经证明COL17A1对于毛囊干细胞的维持是必不可少的(细胞干细胞2011)。现在，我们正在分析COL17A1如何通过关注细胞极性来调节毛囊干细胞的命运。

Cell polarity plays important functional roles in differentiation and proliferation of invertebrates and mammalian stem cells, however their function and maintenance in hair follicle stem cells (HFSCs) are now unclear. COL17A1 is one of the hemidesmosomal transmembrane proteins, which plays a critical role in maintaining the linkage between the intracellular and the extracellular structural elements, involved in epidermal adhesion. Previously, we showed that COL17A1 is essential for maintenance of hair follicle stem cells (Cell Stem Cell 2011). Now, we are analyzing 'How COL17A1 regulates the fate of hair follicle stem cells by focusing on cell polarity'.