Stem cells, while among the rest, continually rejuvenate our skin, hair and nails. Scientists at Rockefeller University have found two proteins responsible for the continuous process of
skin regeneration. They identified the molecular mechanisms that play an important role in the stem cells formation, their transformation into cells of other tissues.
Scientists have brought in mice with a deficit of protein TCF3 and TCF4, located in the nucleus of skin stem cells, where they affect the cell division process. Without the proteins, the process of cell development is impossible. TCF proteins are found in all types of stem cells. They run the genes work, interacting with a molecule of β-catenin.
However, in hair follicles TCF3 and TCF4 they inhibit the transformation of stem cells into other types, when β-catenin is inside the nucleus, but when it goes beyond it, the cells are being developed.