Skin Grown in Laboratories Could Replace Need for Animal Testing

Researchers at King's College London and the San Francisco Veteran Affairs Medical Center (SFVAMC) said that they may be able to grow a layer of human skin from stem cells, which could replace the need for animals in some cosmetic and drug testing. Findings also show that this could be a more cost-effective alternative.

For the study, researchers were able to reconstruct the outermost layer of the skin, also known as the epidermis, from human skin cells.  Tissue engineers have previously been unable to grow the epidermis with the functional barrier needed for drug testing.

Yet this new research describes the use of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) to produce an unlimited supply of pure keratinocytes that closely match keratinocytes generated from human embryonic stem cells (hESC) and primary keratinocytes from skin biopsies, according to a press release. These keratinocytes were used to create 3D epidermal barriers that protect the body from losing moisture while simultaneously preventing the entry of toxins, chemicals and microbes.

"The ability to obtain an unlimited number of genetically identical units can be used to study a range of conditions where the skin's barrier is defective due to mutations in genes involved in skin barrier formation, such as ichthyosis (dry, flaky skin) or atopic dermatitis," said study author Dr. Theodora of SFVAMC, via the release. "We can use this model to study how the skin barrier develops normally, how the barrier is impaired in different diseases and how we can stimulate its repair and recovery."

Dr. Dusko Ilic, leader of the King's College team, concluded, via the release: "Our new method can be used to grow much greater quantities of lab-grown human epidermal equivalents, and thus could be scaled up for commercial testing of drugs and cosmetics. Human epidermal equivalents representing different types of skin could also be grown, depending on the source of the stem cells used, and could thus be tailored to study a range of skin conditions and sensitivities in different populations."

More information regarding the findings can be seen via the journal Stem Cell Reports.