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■科學家發現皮膚幹細胞母體，相信有助受傷或燒傷的病人，更有效地修復及培植新肌膚。資料圖片
科學家發現所有皮膚細胞的母體，並指這一新發現，可大幅改善嚴重受傷或燒傷病人的皮膚治療。
克萊弗斯、荷蘭和瑞士的研究人員對實驗鼠進行研究，發現長成皮膚不同細胞的幹細胞其實就在毛囊。
有關研究登在《科學》期刊，研究人員指出，未來會將實驗結果應用在人類身上，他們期望利用這些幹細胞協助燒傷者修復傷口和移植皮膚。
來自荷蘭烏德勒支皇家藝術及科學院的克萊弗斯表示：「這些是所有皮膚幹細胞的母體，它能造出所有幹細胞，我們可看到人類身上亦有同樣細胞。在研製人類皮膚上，現時無任何東西比它更有希望。」
皮膚內共有3種細胞，包括毛囊細胞、濕潤皮脂腺細胞及毛囊間表皮。而人類所有細胞都源於幹細胞。
科學家以往認為這3種皮膚細胞會各自地自我製造繁殖，但現在未能在這3種細胞中找到各自的母體幹細胞。
克萊弗斯的隊伍發現，毛囊中的一群幹細胞含有大量Lrg6基因，是最原始的表皮幹細胞。
在實驗鼠傷口測試中，他們發現傷口附近的Lrg6細胞推動新皮膚生長，並修補原來的皮膚。
克萊弗斯表示，今次研究結果的優勢是他們有機會用最原始方法培植皮膚，新皮膚是「實在的」，擁有皮脂腺細胞的滋潤性，且有毛髮長出。
他又說，研究員現時需學習如何分隔人類皮膚內的Lrg6細胞，這個過程可能需時約3年。 ■路透社
■資深翻譯員 羅國偉
Scientists Find Mother of All Skin Cells
Scientists have found the "mother" of all skin cells and they say that their discovery could dramatically improve skin treatments for victims of serious wounds and burns.
Hans Clevers and a team of Dutch and Swedish researchers conducted a study in mice and found that the stem cell that gives produces all the different cells of the skin actually lives in hair follicles.
The findings, which they say will translate for human use, mean it may be possible to harness these stem cells to help with wound repair or skin transplants for burns victims, they said in a study in the Science journal.
"This is the mother of all the stem cells in the skin─it makes all the other stem cells," Clevers, of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in Utrecht, said. "The same stem cells exist in humans, we can see them, and the promise is that these cells are probably going to be much better than anything we have had to date at making new skin."
The skin has 3 different populations of cells─hair follicles, moisturising sebaceous glands, and the tissue in between, known as the interfollicular epidermis. Stem cells are original cells, or drivers, from which all human cells develop.
Scientists had previously thought that stem cells in each of these 3 skin populations were capable of producing their own cell type, but until now, a mother stem cell which produces all 3 types had not been found.
Clevers' team found that a group of stem cells that live in hair follicles and which have high levels of a gene called Lgr6 are the original epidermal stem cells.
In tests on mice with wounds, they found that Lrg6 cells around the wound drove new skin growth and repaired the skin.
Clevers said the advantage offered by the mother stem cell finding would be that they could grow skin from its original basis─allowing it to be "real new skin" with moisture from sebaceous glands and the ability to grow hair.
He said researchers now need to learn how to isolate the Lrg6 cells from human skin. That could take about 3 years. ■Reuters
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