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By filming skin stem cells in living mice over five months, researchers at the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), in collaboration with the University of Cambridge, have discovered that in females these cells renew the skin in a more coordinated way than in males. This difference, controlled by sex hormones, goes hand in hand with faster wound healing in female mice. This research could eventually pave the way for personalized treatments taking into account patients' sex.

For a long time, differences between females and males were mainly associated with the reproductive organs. Yet organs that have nothing to do with reproduction, such as the skin, can also be shaped by sex. This question, essential for better preventing and treating inflammatory diseases and cancer, has long been underestimated by some in the scientific community.

The study, published in Nature, was led by professor Cédric Blanpain, M.D., Ph.D., an investigator at the WEL Research Institute, director of the Laboratory of Stem Cells and Cancer and professor at the Université libre de Bruxelles, in collaboration with the team of professor Benjamin Simons at the University of Cambridge and other partner institutions.

The researchers used a microscopy technique that makes it possible to film cells through the skin of a living mouse. They were thus able to follow the same stem cells and their descendants for five months, an unprecedented tracking period.

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