HCA Data Explorer

Spatial and single-cell transcriptional profiling identifies functionally distinct human dermal fibroblast subpopulations

Updated July 19, 2022

Fibroblasts synthesize the extracellular matrix of connective tissue and play an essential role in maintaining tissue integrity. We have previously shown that mouse skin connective tissue, the dermis, is comprised of functionally distinct fibroblast lineages. However, the extent of fibroblast heterogeneity in human skin is unknown. Here, using a combination of spatial transcriptional profiling of human and mouse dermis and single cell transcriptional profiling of human dermal fibroblasts, we show that there are at least four distinct fibroblast populations in adult human skin. We define markers permitting prospective isolation of these cells and show that although marker expression is rapidly lost in culture, different fibroblast subpopulations retain distinct functionality in terms of Wnt signalling, T cell communication and the ability to support human epidermal reconstitution in organotypic culture. Furthermore, while some fibroblast subpopulations are spatially segregated, others are not. These findings have profound implications for normal wound healing and diseases characterized by excessive fibrosis, and suggest that ex vivo expansion or in vivo ablation of specific fibroblast subpopulations may have therapeutic applications.

Magnus David LynchKing's College Londonmagnus.lynch@kcl.ac.uk
Magnus David Lynch (Experimental Scientist)1
Watt Fiona (Principal Investiator)1
Phillippeos Christina (Experimental Scientist)1
1King's College London
Stephenson Asgton
Muthuraman Pranav
Nejad Parisa

To reference this project, please use the following link:

https://explore.data.humancellatlas.org/projects/05657a59-9f9d-4bb9-b77b-24be13aa5cea

Supplementary links are provided by contributors and represent items such as additional data which can’t be hosted here; code that was used to analyze this data; or tools and visualizations associated with this specific dataset.

1.ftp://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/series/GSE109nnn/GSE109822/suppl/GSE109822_CD3145.csv.gz,ftp://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/series/GSE109nnn/GSE109822/suppl/GSE109822_CD90.csv.gz,ftp://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/series/GSE109nnn/GSE109822/suppl/GSE109822_dermis.csv.gz
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Analysis Portals

None

Project Label

HumanDermalFibroblastSubpopulations

Species

Homo sapiens

Sample Type

specimens

Anatomical Entity

abdomen

Organ Part

dermis

Selected Cell Types

fibroblast of dermis

Disease Status (Specimen)

normal

Disease Status (Donor)

normal

Development Stage

human adult stage

Library Construction Method

Smart-seq2

Nucleic Acid Source

single cell

Paired End

true

Analysis Protocol

MultiSampleSmartSeq2_v2.2.6, SmartSeq2SingleSample_v5.1.5

File Format

5 file formats

Cell Count Estimate

184

Donor Count

1
bai184 file(s)bam184 file(s)csv.gz3 file(s)fastq.gz368 file(s)loom1 file(s)