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Expression profile of the stem cell markers in human Hertwig’s epithelial root sheath/Epithelial rests of Malassez cells

  • Published:
Molecules and Cells

Abstract

Hertwig’s epithelial root sheath/Epithelial rests of Malassez (HERS/ERM) cells are unique epithelial cells in the periodontal ligament. They remain in periodontal tissues through-out the adult life, and it is expected that their functional role is to maintain the homeostasis of the periodontium through reciprocal interactions with other periodontal cells. In this study, we investigated whether HERS/ERM cells have primitive stem cell characteristics: those of embryonic stem cells as well as of epithelial stem cells. Primary HERS/ERM cells had typical epithelial cell morphology and characteristics and they maintained for more than five passages. They expressed epithelial stem cell-related genes: ABCG2, ANp63, p75, EpCAM, and Bmi-1. Moreover, the expression of embryonic stem cell markers such as Oct-4, Nanog, and SSEA-4 were detected. Next, we investigated whether the expression of these stem cell markers was maintained during the sub-culture process. HERS/ERM cells showed different expression levels of these stemness genes at each passage, but their expression was maintained throughout the passages. Taken together, our data suggest that a primary culture of HERS/ERM cells contains a population of primitive stem cells that express epithelial stem cell markers and embryonic stem cell markers. Furthermore, these cell populations were maintained during the sub-culturing process in our culture conditions. Therefore, our findings suggest that there is a strong possibility of accomplishing cementum tissue engineering with HERS/ERM cells.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, Dental Research Institute, School of Dentistry, Seoul National University, Seoul, 110-749, Korea

    Hyun Nam, Jaewon Kim, Jaewan Park & Gene Lee

  2. Department of Oral Histology-Developmental Biology, School of Dentistry, Seoul National University, Seoul, 110-749, Korea

    Joo-Cheol Park

  3. Department of Pediatric Dentistry, School of Dentistry, Seoul National University, Seoul, 110-749, Korea

    Jung-Wook Kim

  4. Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, School of Dentistry, Seoul National University, Seoul, 110-749, Korea

    Byoung-Moo Seo

  5. Children’s Dental Center and CDC Baby Tooth Stem Cell Bank, Seoul, 135-953, Korea

    Jae Cheoun Lee

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  1. Hyun Nam
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  2. Jaewon Kim
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  3. Jaewan Park
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  4. Joo-Cheol Park
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  8. Gene Lee
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Correspondence to Gene Lee.

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Nam, H., Kim, J., Park, J. et al. Expression profile of the stem cell markers in human Hertwig’s epithelial root sheath/Epithelial rests of Malassez cells. Mol Cells 31, 355–360 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10059-011-0045-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10059-011-0045-3

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