Dermal fibroblast-like cells reprogrammed directly from adipocytes in mouse

In deep burns, early wound closure is important for healing, and skin grafting is mainly used for wound closure. However, it is difficult to achieve early wound closure in extensive total body surface area deep burns due to the lack of donor sites. Dermal fibroblasts, responsible for dermis formation, may be lost in deep burns. However, fat layers composed of adipocytes, lying underneath the dermis, are retained even in such cases. Direct reprogramming is a novel method for directly reprograming some cells into other types by introducing specific master regulators; it has exhibited appreciable success in various fields. In this study, we aimed to assess whether the transfection of master regulators (ELF4, FOXC2, FOXO1, IRF1, PRRX1, and ZEB1) could reprogram mouse adipocytes into dermal fibroblast-like cells. Our results indicated the shrinkage of fat droplets in reprogrammed mouse adipocytes and their transformation into spindle-shaped dermal fibroblasts. Reduced expression of PPAR-2, c/EBP, aP2, and leptin, the known markers of adipocytes, in RT-PCR, and enhanced expression of anti-ER-TR7, the known anti-fibroblast marker, in immunocytochemistry, were confirmed in the reprogrammed mouse adipocytes. The dermal fibroblast-like cells, reported here, may open up a new treatment mode for enabling early closure of deep burn wounds.