Figure 6

HSC expand, but do not differentiate in the skin-cell explants. HSC from donor V1 and V2 were seeded into skin-cell explants from donor A and B. As controls, HSC were expanded for 1 week using a HSC expansion-mix, followed by maintenance with IL-7. For reasons unknown, cell-numbers declined after 2-3 weeks in culture with skin-cell explants (not shown). The phenotype of the hematopoietic cells was analyzed at various time-points after seeding, and the results of week 2 and 4 are depicted. Of markers associated with T-lineage commitment, only CD7 was detected on 20-30%/60% of the cells in skin-cell explants/controls, and its expression-level increased from week 2 to 4.