This research introduces a comprehensive single-cell spatial atlas of human skin, mapping approximately 1.2 million cells across 15 different body sites. By utilizing MERFISH technology, the authors successfully identified 45 distinct cell subpopulations and localized them within their specific tissue environments. The study reveals that skin composition is highly stereotypic and site-specific, organized into ten multicellular neighborhoods that maintain homeostatic functions. A key discovery includes a perivascular neighborhood that facilitates essential crosstalk between the immune system and fibroblasts via tumor necrosis factor signaling. Furthermore, the researchers observed that these organized cellular structures are architecturally disrupted in various skin diseases, providing a new framework for understanding pathogenic activity. To support future dermatological studies, the team developed an interactive webtool for exploring this vast spatial transcriptomic dataset.

References:

• Restrepo P, Wilder A, Houser A, et al. Single-cell spatial transcriptomic analysis of human skin anatomy[J]. Nature Genetics, 2026: 1-13.