Summary
The ultimate success of global efforts to exploit adult stem cells for regenerative medicine will depend heavily on the availability of robust, highly selective stem cell surface markers that facilitate the isolation of stem cells from human tissues. Any subsequent expansion or manipulation of isolated stem cells will also require an intimate knowledge of the mechanisms that regulate these cells, to ensure maintenance of their regenerative capacities and to minimize the risk of introducing undesirable growth traits that could pose health risks for patients. A subclass of leucine-rich repeat-containing G-protein-coupled receptor (Lgr) proteins has recently gained prominence as adult stem cell markers with crucial roles in maintaining stem cell functions. Here, we discuss the major impact that their discovery has had on our understanding of adult stem cell biology in various self-renewing tissues and in accelerating progress towards the development of effective stem cell therapies.
Footnotes
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Funding
The authors' research was supported by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A-STAR), Singapore.
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Competing interests statement
The authors declare no competing financial interests.
Article navigation
- Top
- Article
- Summary
- Introduction
- Lgr proteins: structure and evolution
- The emergence of Lgr5 as a Wnt-regulated stem cell marker candidate
- Validating Lgr5+ populations as adult epithelial stem cells
- The mechanics of Lgr5+ stem cell-driven epithelial homeostasis in the intestine
- Mining the Lgr5+ stem cell expression signature for mechanistic insight and novel markers
- Exploiting the potential of Lgr5+ stem cells for regenerative medicine
- Lgr6 as a marker of adult stem cells in the skin
- Lgr proteins: functions and mechanisms of action in adult stem cells
- Perspectives
- Acknowledgements
- Footnotes
- References
- Figures & tables
- Info & metrics
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