Research project
Epidermis is the multilayered epithelium that covers the human skin. This tissue is in perpetual renewal, a process named keratinopoiesis, which is maintained through stem cells and their ability to self-renew. Although the suitability of epidermis stem cells for regenerative medicine have been obtained more than three decades ago, allowing skin autologous grafts in cases of deep second and third degree burns, significant challenges remain, among which a thorough comprehension of the cellular and molecular factors involved in the control of stem cell engraftment.
The team explores a network of transcription factors related to the TGFb1 pathway at a fundamental level, to dissect their roles in stem cell immaturity and self-renewal, ,and with the aim to contribute to future connections between the knowledge of the molecular mechanisms that ensure keratinopoiesis and the medical area of cutaneous cell therapy.
Due to its anatomical localization and high turnover, epidermis is a major target for carcinogens, and skin carcinoma is one of the most frequent human cancers. Ionizing radiation (IR) can induce carcinoma in skin, but the respective roles of keratinocyte stem cells and their progeny in the carcinogenic process is still unclear. Moreover, the issue of threshold dose is still open for skin cancer after very low doses, as it was recently lowered to 0.6 Gy from the last data of last Japanese cohort survey. The team investigates keratinocyte radiosensitivity in normal epidermis precursor cells, notably in a cohort representative of the general French population, set up to address individual radiosensitivity. Radiosensitivity is also investigated in cells mutated for the PTCH1 gene, coding for the Sonic hedgehog receptor and responsible for the Gorlin syndrome. Target cells, target genes and the mechanisms of cell transformation after medium and low radiation doses are in the frame of these studies.
The team is involved in French research networks (ANR, ANSES, EDF, OSEO), as well as European networks (RISK-IR FP7), with academic and industrial partners.