Generating Functional and Highly Proliferative Melanocytes Derived from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells: A Promising Tool for Biotherapeutic Approaches to Treat Skin Pigmentation Disorders.

Melanocytes are essential for skin homeostasis and protection, and their loss or misfunction leads to a wide spectrum of diseases. Cell therapy utilizing autologous melanocytes has been used for years as an adjunct treatment for hypopigmentary disorders such as vitiligo. However, these approaches are hindered by the poor proliferative capacity of melanocytes obtained from skin biopsies. Recent advances in the field of human pluripotent stem cells have fueled the prospect of generating melanocytes. Here, we have developed a well-characterized method to produce a pure and homogenous population of functional and proliferative melanocytes. The genetic stability and potential transformation of melanocytes from pluripotent stem cells have been evaluated over time during the in vitro culture process. Thanks to transcriptomic analysis, the molecular signatures all along the differentiation protocol have been characterized, providing a solid basis for standardizing the protocol. Altogether, our results promise meaningful, broadly applicable, and longer-lasting advances for pigmentation disorders and open perspectives for innovative biotherapies for pigment disorders.

All trans retinoic acid enhances CDDP-induced apoptosis: modulation of the CDDP effect on cell cycle progression.

We have previously shown that ATRA potentiates CDDP cytotoxicity in various ovarian carcinoma cell lines. In the present study, we found that the enhanced sensitivity to CDDP was due to an increase of CDDP-induced apoptosis in OVCCR1 and NIH-OVCAR-3 cells. In these cell lines, flow cytometric analysis indicated that CDDP induced an initial accumulation of cells in the S-phase, followed by an increase in the proportion of cells in G2/M phase. Pretreatment of OVCCR1 and NIH-OVCAR-3 cells with ATRA did not modify cell cycle parameters, but delayed S-phase exit of CDDP-treated cells. Bcl-2 over-expression inhibited both delay in S-phase exit and CDDP-induced apoptosis in ATRA-pretreated cells. The CDDP-induced S-phase accumulation of OVCCR1 cells resulted from an activation of CDK2/cyclin A activity. Our results indicate that ATRA-pretreatment modified the CDDP-induced regulation of CDK2 activity by the CDK inhibitors p21 and p27. Taken together, our findings suggest that ATRA potentiates the apoptosis induced by CDDP in ovarian carcinoma cells and that this action is sustained by modulation of the activity of CDK2/cyclin A.