Abstract: Provided are methods for improving the proliferation and stemness of limbal stem cells (LSCs) by adding a Wnt inhibitor to a medium for limbal explant cultures. When human limbal explants are cultured according to the methods, Wnt/?-catenin signaling is inhibited, resulting in improvement of LSC proliferation, and improvement in the stemness of LSCs, and thus the LSCs may be obtained in high yield.

Abstract: The present invention provides a composition for diagnosing Sjögren's syndrome in dry eye syndrome by using ATG5 or LC3B-II as a biomarker, a method of diagnosing the same, and a screening method. ATG5 or LC3B-II are used as a biomarker to effectively diagnose only Sjögren's syndrome except for non-Sjögren's syndrome in dry eye syndrome, and thus it can be useful for related fields.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for culturing limbal tissues on an amniotic membrane slide scaffold, thereby enabling the proportion of limbal stem cells in a limbal tissue-derived epithelial cell sheet to be effectively increased, and the same to be cultured. According to the present invention, the proportion of limbal stem cells in in a limbal tissue-derived epithelial cell sheet can be stably and rapidly increased, and thus the success rate can be increased when in limbal tissue-derived epithelial cell sheets are transplanted into a patient with limbal stem cell deficiency.

Abstract: Provided are methods for improving the proliferation and sternness of limbal stem cells (LSCs) by adding a Wnt inhibitor to a medium for limbal explant cultures. When human limbal explants are cultured according to the methods, the Wnt/?-catenin signaling is inhibited, resulting in improvement of LSC proliferation, and improvement in the sternness of LSCs, and thus the LSCs may be obtained in high yield. These effects may lead to a higher success rate of transplantation of a limbal explant outgrowth sheet into a LSCD patient.