Cycling up the epidermis: reconciling 100 years of debate

There is likely general consensus within the skin research community that cell cycle control is critical to epidermal homeostasis and disease. The current predominant model proposes that keratinocytes switch off DNA replication and undergo cell cycle and cell growth arrest as they initiate terminal differentiation. However, this model cannot explain key physiological features of the skin, mainly why squamous differentiation prevails over proliferation in benign hyperproliferative disorders. In recent years, we have proposed an alternative model that involves mitotic slippage and endoreplication. This new model is controversial and has encountered resistance within the field. However, looking back at history, the epidermal cell cycle has been a matter of controversy and debate for around 100 years now. The accumulated data are confusing and contradictory. Our present model can explain and reconcile both old and new paradoxical observations. Here, we explain and discuss the endoreplicative cell cycle, the evidence for and against its existence in human epidermis and the important implications for skin homeostasis and disease. We show that regardless of the strengths or weaknesses of the Endoreplication Model, the existing evidence in support of the Cell Cycle Arrest Model is very weak.