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Objectives: Epithelial stem cells of the eye surface, of the cornea and of the conjunctiva, have the ability to give rise to self renewal and progeny production of differentiated cells with no apparent limit. The two epithelia are separated from each other by the transition zone of the limbus. The mechanisms adopted by stem cells of the two epithelia to accomplish their different characteristics, and how their survival, replacement and unequal division that generates differentiated progeny formation are controlled, are complex and still poorly understood. They can be learned only by understanding how stem cells/progenitors are regulated by their neighbouring cells, that may themselves be differently unspecialised, forming particular microenvironments, known as ‘niches’. Stem cells operate by signals and a variety of intercellular interactions and extracellular substrates with adjacent cells in the niche. Technical advances are now making it possible to identify zones in the corneal limbus and conjunctiva that can house stem cells, to isolate and expand them ex vivo and to control their behaviour creating optimal niche conditions. With improvements in biotechnology, regenerative cornea and conjunctiva transplantation using adult epithelial stem cells becomes now a reality. Results and Conclusions: Here we review our current understanding of stem cell niches and illustrate recent significant progress for identification and characterization of adult epithelial stem cells/progenitors at cellular, molecular and mechanistic levels, improvement in cell culture techniques for their selective expansion ex vivo and prospects for a variety of therapeutic applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rhesus monkey embryonic stem cells (ESCs) (R366.4), cultured on a three-dimensional (3D) collagen matrix with or without human neonatal foreskin fibroblasts (HPI.1) as feeder cells, or embedded in the collagen matrix, formed complex tubular or spherical gland-like structures and differentiated into phenotypes characteristic of neural, epithelial and endothelial lineages. Here, we analysed the production of endogenous extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins, cell–cell adhesion molecules, cell-surface receptors, lectins and their glycoligands, by differentiating ESCs, forming a micro-environment, a niche, able to positively influence cell behaviour. The expression of some of these molecules was modulated by HPI.1 cells while others were unaffected. We hypothesized that both soluble factors and the niche itself were critical in directing growth and/or differentiation of ESCs in this 3D environment. Creating such an appropriate experimental 3D micro-environment, further modified by ESCs and modulated by exogenous soluble factors, may constitute a template for adequate culture systems in developmental biology studies concerning differentiation of stem cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Expression of 20-alpha-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (20α-SDH), a putative T cell marker in the murine system, has been examined in human haematopoietic cells. Higher levels of enzymatic activity were expressed by human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) in comparison with thymocytes. When PBMC were fractionated into T and non T cell subsets, the greatest values of 20α-SDH activity were associated with the non T cell population. Cells from bone marrow exhibited lower levels of 20a-SDH than PBMC and thymocytes. Both myeloid and lymphoid leukaemic cells expressed significant 20α-SDH activity. In addition our data in U-937 and CM-S human cell lines indicate that cells belonging to the myelomonocytic precursor compartment constitutively expressed 20α- SDH activity. Furthermore, this activity was less expressed when these cells were induced to monocyte-macrophage differentiation. In conclusion, our data in the human system indicate that 20α-SDH should not be viewed as a lymphoid lineage-restricted marker enzyme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]