An Insight into the Difficulties in the Discovery of Specific Biomarkers of Limbal Stem Cells

Keeping the integrity and transparency of the cornea is the most important issue to ensure normal vision. There are more than 10 million patients going blind due to the cornea diseases worldwide. One of the effective ways to cure corneal diseases is corneal transplantation. Currently, donations are...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Zhi Hou Guo, Wei Zhang, Yang Yan Sheng Jia, Qing Xiu Liu, Zhao Fa Li, Jun Sheng Lin
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2018-07-01
Series:International Journal of Molecular Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/19/7/1982
id doaj-d3b96dcd890b472d87c05dafe1b0472f
record_format Article
spelling doaj-d3b96dcd890b472d87c05dafe1b0472f2020-11-24T21:54:01ZengMDPI AGInternational Journal of Molecular Sciences1422-00672018-07-01197198210.3390/ijms19071982ijms19071982An Insight into the Difficulties in the Discovery of Specific Biomarkers of Limbal Stem CellsZhi Hou Guo0Wei Zhang1Yang Yan Sheng Jia2Qing Xiu Liu3Zhao Fa Li4Jun Sheng Lin5School of Medicine, Huaqiao University, Quanzhou 362021, ChinaSchool of Medicine, Huaqiao University, Quanzhou 362021, ChinaSchool of Medicine, Huaqiao University, Quanzhou 362021, ChinaSchool of Medicine, Huaqiao University, Quanzhou 362021, ChinaSchool of Medicine, Huaqiao University, Quanzhou 362021, ChinaSchool of Medicine, Huaqiao University, Quanzhou 362021, ChinaKeeping the integrity and transparency of the cornea is the most important issue to ensure normal vision. There are more than 10 million patients going blind due to the cornea diseases worldwide. One of the effective ways to cure corneal diseases is corneal transplantation. Currently, donations are the main source of corneas for transplantation, but immune rejection and a shortage of donor corneas are still serious problems. Graft rejection could cause transplanted cornea opacity to fail. Therefore, bioengineer-based corneas become a new source for corneal transplantation. Limbal stem cells (LSCs) are located at the basal layer in the epithelial palisades of Vogt, which serve a homeostatic function for the cornea epithelium and repair the damaged cornea. LSC-based transplantation is one of the hot topics currently. Clinical data showed that the ratio of LSCs to total candidate cells for a transplantation has a significant impact on the effectiveness of the transplantation. It indicates that it is very important to accurately identify the LSCs. To date, several putative biomarkers of LSCs have been widely reported, whereas their specificity is controversial. As reported, the identification of LSCs is based on the characteristics of stem cells, such as a nuclear-to-cytoplasm ratio (N/C) ≥ 0.7, label-retaining, and side population (SP) phenotype. Here, we review recently published data to provide an insight into the circumstances in the study of LSC biomarkers. The particularities of limbus anatomy and histochemistry, the limits of the current technology level for LSC isolation, the heterogeneity of LSCs and the influence of enzyme digestion are discussed. Practical approaches are proposed in order to overcome the difficulties in basic and applied research for LSC-specific biomarkers.http://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/19/7/1982limbal stem cell (LSC)LSC nicheLSC biomarkerheterogeneity
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Zhi Hou Guo
Wei Zhang
Yang Yan Sheng Jia
Qing Xiu Liu
Zhao Fa Li
Jun Sheng Lin
spellingShingle Zhi Hou Guo
Wei Zhang
Yang Yan Sheng Jia
Qing Xiu Liu
Zhao Fa Li
Jun Sheng Lin
An Insight into the Difficulties in the Discovery of Specific Biomarkers of Limbal Stem Cells
International Journal of Molecular Sciences
limbal stem cell (LSC)
LSC niche
LSC biomarker
heterogeneity
author_facet Zhi Hou Guo
Wei Zhang
Yang Yan Sheng Jia
Qing Xiu Liu
Zhao Fa Li
Jun Sheng Lin
author_sort Zhi Hou Guo
title An Insight into the Difficulties in the Discovery of Specific Biomarkers of Limbal Stem Cells
title_short An Insight into the Difficulties in the Discovery of Specific Biomarkers of Limbal Stem Cells
title_full An Insight into the Difficulties in the Discovery of Specific Biomarkers of Limbal Stem Cells
title_fullStr An Insight into the Difficulties in the Discovery of Specific Biomarkers of Limbal Stem Cells
title_full_unstemmed An Insight into the Difficulties in the Discovery of Specific Biomarkers of Limbal Stem Cells
title_sort insight into the difficulties in the discovery of specific biomarkers of limbal stem cells
publisher MDPI AG
series International Journal of Molecular Sciences
issn 1422-0067
publishDate 2018-07-01
description Keeping the integrity and transparency of the cornea is the most important issue to ensure normal vision. There are more than 10 million patients going blind due to the cornea diseases worldwide. One of the effective ways to cure corneal diseases is corneal transplantation. Currently, donations are the main source of corneas for transplantation, but immune rejection and a shortage of donor corneas are still serious problems. Graft rejection could cause transplanted cornea opacity to fail. Therefore, bioengineer-based corneas become a new source for corneal transplantation. Limbal stem cells (LSCs) are located at the basal layer in the epithelial palisades of Vogt, which serve a homeostatic function for the cornea epithelium and repair the damaged cornea. LSC-based transplantation is one of the hot topics currently. Clinical data showed that the ratio of LSCs to total candidate cells for a transplantation has a significant impact on the effectiveness of the transplantation. It indicates that it is very important to accurately identify the LSCs. To date, several putative biomarkers of LSCs have been widely reported, whereas their specificity is controversial. As reported, the identification of LSCs is based on the characteristics of stem cells, such as a nuclear-to-cytoplasm ratio (N/C) ≥ 0.7, label-retaining, and side population (SP) phenotype. Here, we review recently published data to provide an insight into the circumstances in the study of LSC biomarkers. The particularities of limbus anatomy and histochemistry, the limits of the current technology level for LSC isolation, the heterogeneity of LSCs and the influence of enzyme digestion are discussed. Practical approaches are proposed in order to overcome the difficulties in basic and applied research for LSC-specific biomarkers.
topic limbal stem cell (LSC)
LSC niche
LSC biomarker
heterogeneity
url http://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/19/7/1982
work_keys_str_mv AT zhihouguo aninsightintothedifficultiesinthediscoveryofspecificbiomarkersoflimbalstemcells
AT weizhang aninsightintothedifficultiesinthediscoveryofspecificbiomarkersoflimbalstemcells
AT yangyanshengjia aninsightintothedifficultiesinthediscoveryofspecificbiomarkersoflimbalstemcells
AT qingxiuliu aninsightintothedifficultiesinthediscoveryofspecificbiomarkersoflimbalstemcells
AT zhaofali aninsightintothedifficultiesinthediscoveryofspecificbiomarkersoflimbalstemcells
AT junshenglin aninsightintothedifficultiesinthediscoveryofspecificbiomarkersoflimbalstemcells
AT zhihouguo insightintothedifficultiesinthediscoveryofspecificbiomarkersoflimbalstemcells
AT weizhang insightintothedifficultiesinthediscoveryofspecificbiomarkersoflimbalstemcells
AT yangyanshengjia insightintothedifficultiesinthediscoveryofspecificbiomarkersoflimbalstemcells
AT qingxiuliu insightintothedifficultiesinthediscoveryofspecificbiomarkersoflimbalstemcells
AT zhaofali insightintothedifficultiesinthediscoveryofspecificbiomarkersoflimbalstemcells
AT junshenglin insightintothedifficultiesinthediscoveryofspecificbiomarkersoflimbalstemcells
_version_ 1725869427242565632