hedgehog_info
Member
- Reaction score
- 0
A little snippet from the Journal Nature.
Once again this is about using developmental biology tools in the adult. If you don't have access to this article and would like it plz PM me.
Molecular Mechanisms Regulating Hair Follicle Development
Sarah E Millar
Departments of Dermatology and Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
Correspondence: Dr Sarah E. Millar, M8D Stellar-Chance Laboratories, 422 Curie Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6100, U.S.A. Email: millars@mail.med.upenn.edu
Received 19 June 2001; Revised 21 September 2001; Accepted 15 October 2001.
Clinical implications: what does the future hold?
Knowledge of the molecules and pathways that regulate hair follicle formation and hair growth will be essential for achieving therapeutic goals for hair loss conditions, including the ability: (i) to create new hair follicles; (ii) to change the characteristics (such as size or shape) of existing follicles; and (iii) to alter hair growth in existing follicles, as well as aiding in the search for target antigens important in the etiology of alopecia areata and scarring alopecia (reviewed inCotsarelis and Millar, 2001). Inhibiting the activities of molecules important for hair follicle formation and cyclical growth may also ultimately provide us with means for treating hirsutism. While we are far from achieving these goals, the identification of molecules such as beta-catenin and SHH that are capable of inducing the formation of new hair follicles provides us with potential strategies for treating conditions in which follicles have been completely destroyed. SHH is also able to induce anagen (Sato et al, 1999), a property that may be useful for treating a variety of conditions. In designing therapeutic approaches, however, it must be borne in mind that these molecules can also cause the formation of tumors such as pilomatricoma and BCC (Oro and Scott, 1998;Chan et al, 1999).
It will therefore be important to ensure, by controlling the dose, or modifying the properties of these molecules, that one can induce follicle formation without producing harmful side-effects. The development of methods for delivering genes to hair follicles is an area of active research that will clearly be critical for achieving therapeutic goals (Alexeev et al, 2000;Li and Hoffman, 1995;Fan et al, 1999;Domashenko et al, 2000;Cotsarelis and Millar, 2001).
Although striking advances have been made recently in our understanding of hair follicle development, several areas remain mysterious. The nature of the first dermal signal regulating hair follicle development is not known, and we cannot yet explain why hair follicles in different regions of the body have different properties, including size, duration of the anagen growth phase, and sensitivity to androgens. The mechanisms by which testosterone impacts on signaling in the hair follicle to achieve its effects are also not understood, an area of importance for the development of novel therapies for androgenetic alopecia. The next few years are likely to bring us answers to some of these outstanding questions, and perhaps the beginnings of therapeutic applications for our recently acquired knowledge.
http://www.nature.com/jid/journal/v118/ ... 1383a.html
Once again this is about using developmental biology tools in the adult. If you don't have access to this article and would like it plz PM me.
Molecular Mechanisms Regulating Hair Follicle Development
Sarah E Millar
Departments of Dermatology and Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
Correspondence: Dr Sarah E. Millar, M8D Stellar-Chance Laboratories, 422 Curie Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6100, U.S.A. Email: millars@mail.med.upenn.edu
Received 19 June 2001; Revised 21 September 2001; Accepted 15 October 2001.
Clinical implications: what does the future hold?
Knowledge of the molecules and pathways that regulate hair follicle formation and hair growth will be essential for achieving therapeutic goals for hair loss conditions, including the ability: (i) to create new hair follicles; (ii) to change the characteristics (such as size or shape) of existing follicles; and (iii) to alter hair growth in existing follicles, as well as aiding in the search for target antigens important in the etiology of alopecia areata and scarring alopecia (reviewed inCotsarelis and Millar, 2001). Inhibiting the activities of molecules important for hair follicle formation and cyclical growth may also ultimately provide us with means for treating hirsutism. While we are far from achieving these goals, the identification of molecules such as beta-catenin and SHH that are capable of inducing the formation of new hair follicles provides us with potential strategies for treating conditions in which follicles have been completely destroyed. SHH is also able to induce anagen (Sato et al, 1999), a property that may be useful for treating a variety of conditions. In designing therapeutic approaches, however, it must be borne in mind that these molecules can also cause the formation of tumors such as pilomatricoma and BCC (Oro and Scott, 1998;Chan et al, 1999).
It will therefore be important to ensure, by controlling the dose, or modifying the properties of these molecules, that one can induce follicle formation without producing harmful side-effects. The development of methods for delivering genes to hair follicles is an area of active research that will clearly be critical for achieving therapeutic goals (Alexeev et al, 2000;Li and Hoffman, 1995;Fan et al, 1999;Domashenko et al, 2000;Cotsarelis and Millar, 2001).
Although striking advances have been made recently in our understanding of hair follicle development, several areas remain mysterious. The nature of the first dermal signal regulating hair follicle development is not known, and we cannot yet explain why hair follicles in different regions of the body have different properties, including size, duration of the anagen growth phase, and sensitivity to androgens. The mechanisms by which testosterone impacts on signaling in the hair follicle to achieve its effects are also not understood, an area of importance for the development of novel therapies for androgenetic alopecia. The next few years are likely to bring us answers to some of these outstanding questions, and perhaps the beginnings of therapeutic applications for our recently acquired knowledge.
http://www.nature.com/jid/journal/v118/ ... 1383a.html