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Regulation and clinical implications of corneal epithelial stem cells

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Abstract

The corneal epithelium is known to have a rapid self-renewing capacity. The major advance in the field of cornead epithelial cell biology in the last decade is the establishment of the location of corneal epithelial stem cells at the limbus, i.e., the junctional zone between the cornea and the conjunctiva. This concept has helped explain several experimental and clinical paradoxes, produced a number of important clinical applications, and spawned many other research studies. This unique enrichment of epithelial stem cells at a site anatomically separated from their transient amplifying cells makes the ocular surface an ideal model to study the regulation of epithelial stem cells. The present review includes data from more recent studies and lays out other areas for future investigation, especially with respect to the role of apoptosis and cytokine dialogue between limbal epithelial stem cells and their stromal microenvironment.

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Abbreviations

EGF:

epidermal growth factor

EGFR:

epidermal growth factor receptor

bFGF:

basic fibroblast growth factor

HGF:

hepatocyte growth factor

IGF-I:

insulin-like growth factor type I

IL-1β:

interleukin 1β

K3 or K12:

keratin type 3 or 12

KGF:

keratinocyte growth factor

LIF:

leukemia inhibitory factor

PDGF:

platelet-derived growth factor

PKC:

protein kinase C

TGF-α:

transforming growth factor-α

TGF-β:

transforming growth factor-β

TPA:

phorbol ester tumor promoting agents

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ocular Surface and Tear Center, Department of Ophthalmology, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami School of Medicine, 33101, Miami, FL, USA

    Scheffer C. G. Tseng

  2. Department of Cell Biology & Anatomy, University of Miami School of Medicine, 33101, Miami, FL, USA

    Scheffer C. G. Tseng

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Tseng, S.C.G. Regulation and clinical implications of corneal epithelial stem cells. Molecular Biology Reports 23, 47–58 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00357072

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