Regulatory key role for the polarity protein Par3 in the skin identified

in  regulation  of mammalian  skin  barrier  integrity,  hair follicle stem cell maintenance  and  epidermal differentiation.

Using conditional mouse models, the authors found that loss of Par3 in the epidermis disturbed several processes crucial for normal skin function. Epidermal Par3 deficiency resulted in transepidermal water loss, stem cell exhaustion, altered mitotic spindle orientation and premature differentiation.
These new findings highlight that conserved polarity proteins drive processes important for live-long homeostasis of an important self-renewing tissue, and contribute to a better understanding of molecular networks that maintain an essential organismal barrier.

The results are published in the prestigious scientific magazine: Journal of Investigative Dermatology:
Ali NJA, Dias Gomes M, Bauer R, Brodesser S, Niemann C, and Iden S (2016).
Essential role of polarity protein Par3 for epidermal homeostasis through regulation of barrier function, keratinocyte differentiation and stem cell maintenance.
J Invest Dermatol. 2016 Jul 21. pii: S0022-202X(16)32119-4. doi: 10.1016/j.jid.2016.07.011. [Epub ahead of print], PMID: 27452221.