| Exp Cell Res. 1997 Dec 15;237(2):357-63. |
|
Isolation and characterization
of basal cells from human upper respiratory epithelium.
Hicks W Jr, Hall L 3rd, Sigurdson
L, Stewart C, Hard R, Winston J, Lwebuga-Mukasa
J.
Department of Head and Neck Surgery, Roswell Park Cancer
Institute, Buffalo, New York 14263,
Cellular pathways of normal and reparative differentiation of upper airway
epithelium are not well understood. Of the three main cell types, basal and
secretory cells are known to divide, while ciliated cells
are considered terminally differentiated. Several investigations support the
role of the basal cell as a progenitor cell type, but others suggest that
the secretory cell can regenerate a complete mucocilliary epithelium. Thus, lineage relationships within
renewing adult epithelia are still unclear. Understanding the pathways involved
in upper airway epithelial cell differentiation is critical for studying injury
and repair mechanisms and for developing clinical strategies for tracheal
reconstruction. We undertook the current studies to determine the integrin profile of isolated human upper airway basal cells.
Respiratory epithelial cells (REC) were isolated
by elastase digestion, stained with FITC-labeled Griffonia simplicifolia isolectin B4 (GSI-B4), and sorted by flow cytometry.
Approximately 80% of the lectin-positive cells were
basal cells, as determined by morphology and cytokeratin
staining. These cells expressed integrins alpha
1, alpha 2, alpha 3, alpha 5, alpha v beta 5, beta 1, beta 3, and alpha 6
beta 4, by immunohistochemistry.
This is the first report to identify the integrin
profile of isolated human upper airway basal cells. These basal cells could
be maintained on type I collagen for at least 7 days, where they became partially
confluent and retained expression of cytokeratins
5 and 14. Availability of pure populations of basal cells should permit investigations
of their role in both normal and maladaptive repair of adult upper airway
epithelium.
PMID: 9434631 [PubMed
- indexed for MEDLINE]