Induction of Human Keratinocytes into Ameloblasts through Overexpression of β-catenin

Abstract: Human keratinocyte stem cells can be used as epithelial adult stem cells in human tooth regeneration. But the tooth formation rate is relatively low. In this study， we aimed to overexpress β-catenin in human keratinocyte stem cells to improve its tooth formation rate. β-catenin and β-catenin(S33Y) gene coding region was respectively inserted into lentivirus vector and transfected in 293T cells to produce the recombinant lentivirus， then the lentivirus infected human keratinocyte stem cells to up-regulate the expression of β-catenin. The human keratinocyte stem cells were recombined with mouse embryonic dental mesenchyme possessing odontogenic potential. Histology and immunohistochemistry staining were used to detect tooth formation (tooth formation rate) of the chimeric tooth and the efficiency of human keratinocyte stem cells differentiation into ameloblasts (ameloblasts differentiation rate). The data showed that the ameloblasts differentiation rate of the chimeric tooth was increased to 100%. These results indicated that the over-expression of β-catenin in human keratinocyte stem cells could induce them into ameloblasts.

CSTR: 32200.14.cjcb.2014.08.0006