The spatiotemporal activation of phagocytosis by hair follicle cells is orchestrated by lipids released from surrounding apoptotic cells and retinoids released by healthy cells.

In skin injury, the inflammatory environment can impact repair mediated by skin stem cells. Luan, Truong, Vuchkovska, et al. show that hair follicle stem cells migrate into the wound, activate immune-modulatory molecules, and expand extrathymic regulatory T cells to facilitate the resolution of neutrophil responses and the initiation of wound repair.

Retinoic acid dictates whether and when bipotent adult hair follicle stem cells pursue one cell fate versus another.

In their Review article, Fuchs and colleagues discuss how a single or a few mutations in adult cells can lead to invasive cancers without a high mutational burden, demonstrating that non-genetic ...