The recent finding that most adult tissues contain resident stem cells that are involved in tissue maintenance and repair has led to the idea that if we could find ways to pharmacologically recruit these endogenous precursors, then we could promote tissue repair. This lecture will focus upon our recent work pursuing this idea with regard to skin repair. In particular, we previously identified and characterized a population of multipotent, neural crest-like precursors within rodent and human dermis that occupy a hair follicle niche, and play a key role in hair follicle morphogenesis and dermal maintenance and repair. More recently, we performed a screen for molecules that can activate the self-renewal of these precursors (which we call SKPs for skin-derived precursors), and have identified a number of drugs that do so and that are already used in humans for other indications. We have asked whether these compounds can regulate skin biology in mice and show that they promote hair growth and dermal wound-healing. These studies identify novel therapeutically-useful compounds for skin repair and provide support for the idea that recruitment of endogenous tissue precursors can promote tissue repair.
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