Sebaceous gland reprogramming with a single gene, PPARG, and small molecules

Dear Editor,Sebaceous glands(SG)contribute to 90%of the skin surface lipid production and play critical roles in regulating proper skin functions including epidermal barrier maintenance,dermal immune responses,and global body anti-microbial activities.1 Reduced sebaceous lipid has been implicated in diverse skin diseases,including scarring alopecia,inflammation,chronic itch,as well as premature aging of the skin.2 Especially,scar repair after deep burns or large-scale skin defect often leads to irreversible loss of appendages.Due to lacking SG,the regenerated tissues cannot fully recapitulate the structural and functional integrity of normal skin.Therefore,generation of expandable SG cells with developmental and lipid-producing potentials represents a promising approach for treating diseased,damaged,or aged skin with better quality of life.Recently,direct cellular reprogramming has been widely used for obtaining difficult-to-maintain human cells by cell type-specific transcription factors(TFs).