Lrig family controls corneal stem cell homeostasis

角膜的完整性和透明度对于良好的视力是不可或缺的。本研究的结果表明，Lrig1在全克隆型角膜上皮干细胞群体中高度表达，并且Lrig1在眼表面上皮的基底细胞中零星表达，以调节伤口修复过程中角膜上皮细胞的命运。Lrig1的缺失导致创伤后干细胞的募集受损，并导致细胞命运从透明上皮转变为角质化皮肤样表皮，从而导致角膜失明。在修复过程中，Lrig1通过负调节STAT3依赖性炎症通路控制角膜细胞的命运，阻断STAT3挽救了在Lrig1 KO角膜中观察到的病理表型。在这里，我们证明了Lrig1在修复过程中协调角膜组织透明度和细胞命运。

Corneal integrity and transparency is indispensable for good vision. The findings of this present study show that Lrig1 was highly expressed in the holoclone-type corneal epithelial stem cell population, and that Lrig1 was sporadically expressed in the basal cells of ocular-surface epithelium to regulate corneal epithelial cell fate during wound repair. Loss of Lrig1 resulted in impaired recruitment of stem cells post wounding, and in the cell-fate switch from transparent epithelium to keratinized skin-like epidermis, leading to corneal blindness. Lrig1 controlled corneal cell fate during repair by negatively regulating the STAT3-dependent inflammatory pathway, and blocking STAT3 rescued the pathological phenotypes observed in Lrig1 KO corneas. Here, we demonstrate that Lrig1 orchestrates corneal-tissue transparency and cell fate during repair.