SummaryTransient activation of β-catenin signalling in adult mouse epidermis is sufficient to induce new hair follicles but continuous activation is required to maintain hair follicle tumours

Using K14deltaNbeta-cateninER transgenic mice, we show that short-term, low-level beta-catenin activation stimulates de novo hair follicle formation from sebaceous glands and interfollicular epidermis, while only sustained, high-level activation induces new follicles from preexisting follicles. The Hedgehog pathway is upregulated by beta-catenin activation, and inhibition of Hedgehog signaling converts the low beta-catenin phenotype to wild-type epidermis and the high phenotype to low. beta-catenin-induced follicles contain clonogenic keratinocytes that express bulge markers; the follicles induce dermal papillae and provide a niche for melanocytes, and they undergo 4OHT-dependent cycles of growth and regression. New follicles induced in interfollicular epidermis are derived from that cellular compartment and not through bulge stem cell migration or division. These results demonstrate the remarkable capacity of adult epidermis to be reprogrammed by titrating beta-catenin and Hedgehog signal strength and establish that cells from interfollicular epidermis can acquire certain characteristics of bulge stem cells.

Prostate cancer cells with stem cell characteristics were identified in human prostate cancer cell lines by their ability to form from single cells self-renewing prostaspheres in non-adherent cultures. Prostaspheres exhibited heterogeneous expression of proliferation, differentiation and stem cell-associated makers CD44, ABCG2 and CD133. Treatment with WNT inhibitors reduced both prostasphere size and self-renewal. In contrast, addition of Wnt3a caused increased prostasphere size and self-renewal, which was associated with a significant increase in nuclear β-catenin, keratin 18, CD133 and CD44 expression. As a high proportion of LNCaP and C4-2B cancer cells express androgen receptor we determined the effect of the androgen receptor antagonist bicalutamide. Androgen receptor inhibition reduced prostasphere size and expression of PSA, but did not inhibit prostasphere formation. These effects are consistent with the androgen-independent self-renewal of cells with stem cell characteristics and the androgen-dependent proliferation of transit amplifying cells. As the canonical WNT signaling effector β-catenin can also associate with the androgen receptor, we propose a model for tumour propagation involving a balance between WNT and androgen receptor activity. That would affect the self-renewal of a cancer cell with stem cell characteristics and drive transit amplifying cell proliferation and differentiation. In conclusion, we provide evidence that WNT activity regulates the selfrenewal of prostate cancer cells with stem cell characteristics independently of androgen receptor activity. Inhibition of WNT signaling therefore has the potential to reduce the self-renewal of prostate cancer cells with stem cell characteristics and improve the therapeutic outcome.

Loss-of-function mutations in Whn (Hfh 11), a winged-helix/forkhead transcription factor, result in the nude mouse phenotype. To determine the whn expression pattern during development, we utilized mice in which a beta-galactosidase reporter gene was placed under the control of the wild-type whn promoter by homologous recombination (M. Nehls et al., 1996, Science 272, 886-889). Sites of reporter expression were confirmed by immunohistochemical staining for Whn protein or by in situ hybridization for whn mRNA. At all developmental stages, whn expression is restricted to epithelial cells. In addition to the skin and thymus, whn is expressed in the developing nails, nasal passages, tongue, palate, and teeth. In embryonic epidermis, suprabasal cells induce whn expression at the same time that terminal differentiation markers first appear. As the epidermis matures, whn promoter activity is found primarily in the first suprabasal layer, which contains keratinocytes in the early stages of terminal differentiation. In developing and mature anagen hair follicles, whn is expressed at high levels in the postmitotic precursor cells of the hair shaft and inner root sheath. Though principally associated with terminal differentiation, whn expression is also detected in progenitor cell compartments; in the hair bulb matrix and basal epidermal layer, a small subclass of cells expresses whn, while in the outer root sheath, whn promoter activity is induced as the follicle completes its elongation. Within these compartments, rare cells exhibit both whn expression and the nuclear proliferation marker Ki-67. The results suggest that whn expression encompasses the transition from a proliferative to a postmitotic state and that whn regulates the initiation of terminal differentiation.