我们的皮肤提供了保护我们免受环境影响的保护屏障。屏障功能通常与毛囊间表皮有关;然而,毛囊是否影响这一过程仍不清楚。这里,我们利用一种有效的遗传工具,通过有条件地切除典型的表皮屏障基因来探测屏障功能,Abca12在最严重的皮肤屏障疾病中变异,丑角鱼鳞病.有了这个工具,我们推导出毛囊调节皮肤屏障功能的4种方式。首先,上毛囊(uHF)形成功能障碍。第二,uHF中的屏障破坏引起表皮中的非细胞自主反应。第三,在uHF中删除Abca12会损害脱皮并阻止皮脂释放。最后,屏障扰动导致uHF细胞移动到表皮中。中和IL-17a,其表达富含uHF,部分缓解了一些疾病表型。总之,我们的发现暗示毛囊是皮肤屏障功能的多方面调节因子.
Our skin provides a protective barrier that shields us from our environment. Barrier function is typically associated with the interfollicular epidermis; however, whether hair follicles influence this process remains unclear. Here, we utilize a potent genetic tool to probe barrier function by conditionally ablating a quintessential epidermal barrier gene, Abca12, which is mutated in the most severe skin barrier disease, harlequin ichthyosis. With this tool, we deduced 4 ways by which hair follicles modulate skin barrier function. First, the upper hair follicle (uHF) forms a functioning barrier. Second, barrier disruption in the uHF elicits non-cell-autonomous responses in the epidermis. Third, deleting Abca12 in the uHF impairs desquamation and blocks sebum release. Finally, barrier perturbation causes uHF cells to move into the epidermis. Neutralizing IL-17a, whose expression is enriched in the uHF, partially alleviated some disease phenotypes. Altogether, our findings implicate hair follicles as multi-faceted regulators of skin barrier function.