Mimicking hair disorders by genetic manipulation of organ-cultured human hair follicles.

Abstract

Human hair follicles can be dissected out of scalp skin and cultured in vitro in defined growth medium. Hair follicle organ cultures have previously been used to investigate the molecular and cellular mechanisms through which various factors regulate the maintenance and cycling of adult hair follicles. In this issue, Samuelov et al. transfected organ-cultured human hair follicles with siRNA nucleotides and suppressed the expression of the endogenous P-cadherin gene in follicular keratinocytes. Knocking down the expression of P-cadherin in hair follicles in vitro recapitulated the hair follicle phenotype observed in patients with hypotrichosis with juvenile macular dystrophy (HJMD) and enabled the authors to establish a cause-effect relationship between loss of P-cadherin and suppression of the canonical Wnt signaling pathway and upregulation of TGFβ2 during development of the hair abnormalities observed in HJMD patients.

• Authors: Jiang Chen, Dennis R Roop
• Journal: The Journal of investigative dermatology (J Invest Dermatol) Vol. 132 Issue 10 Pg. 2312-2314 (Oct 2012) ISSN: 1523-1747 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 22971919 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural, Comment)

Chemical References

• Cadherins
• Transforming Growth Factor beta2

Topics

• Cadherins (metabolism)
• Cell Cycle (physiology)
• Cell Proliferation
• Female
• Hair (growth & development, metabolism)
• Humans
• Male
• Transforming Growth Factor beta2 (metabolism)
• Wnt Signaling Pathway (physiology)