Following full-thickness skin injuries, epithelialization of the wound is essential. The standard of care to achieve this wound “closure” in patients is autologous split-thickness skin grafting (STSG). However, patients living with STSGs report significant chronic impairments leading to functional deficiencies such as itch, altered sensation, fragility, hypertrophic scarring, and contractures. These features are attributable to the absence of functional dermis combined with the formation of disorganized fibrotic extracellular matrix. Recent work has demonstrated the existence of dermal progenitor cells (DPCs) residing within hair follicles that function to continuously regenerate mesenchymal tissue. The present work examines whether cultured DPCs could regenerate dermis within an STSG and improve overall graft function. Adult human DPCs were transplanted into a full-thickness skin wound in immune-compromised mice and closed with a human STSG. At 3 months, human DPCs (hDPCs) had successfully integrated into the xenograft and differentiated into various regionally specified phenotypes, improving both viscoelastic properties of the graft and mitigating pruritus.

全层皮肤损伤后，伤口上皮化至关重要。实现患者伤口“闭合”的护理标准是自体分层皮肤移植（STSG）。然而，患有 STSG 的患者报告有明显的慢性损伤，导致功能缺陷，例如瘙痒、感觉改变、脆弱、增生性疤痕和挛缩。这些特征可归因于功能性真皮的缺失以及无组织的纤维化细胞外基质的形成。最近的研究表明，毛囊内存在真皮祖细胞（DPC），其功能是持续再生间充质组织。目前的工作检验培养的 DPC 是否可以在 STSG 内再生真皮并改善整体移植功能。成年人类 DPC 被移植到免疫受损小鼠的全层皮肤伤口中，并用人类 STSG 封闭。 3 个月时，人类 DPC (hDPC) 已成功整合到异种移植物中，并分化为各种特定区域的表型，从而改善了移植物的粘弹性并减轻了瘙痒。