Computational models of tissue homeostasis will facilitate a deeper understanding of many diseases. They link molecular networks, cellular differentiation and the spatial and temporal organization of tissues. Here we show an approach which is able to computationally turn a healthy in silico epidermis into one with four central properties of psoriatic epidermis. We achieve this by altering a single simulation parameter in the cellular differentiation program of the simulated epidermal keratinocytes: the fractional time period during which transit amplifying cells proliferate (τ). Prolonging τ results in the four main pathological characteristics of psoriatic skin: (1) an absolute increase of the germinative compartment, (2) an absolute increase of the differentiated compartment, (3) a higher proportion of germinative cells and (4) a marked reduction in turnover time. The prolongation of τ is able to increase the proliferation capacity of the epidermal tissue without altering the cell cycle frequency.#R##N##R##N#Contact: niels.grabe@med.uni-heidelberg.de
['Niels Grabe', 'Karsten Neuber']
Simulating psoriasis by altering transit amplifying cells