Abstract
Objectives: EREG (epiregulin), a member of the epidermal growth factor (EGF) family, plays a role in inflammation, wound healing, normal physiology and malignancies. However, little is known about its function on hair growth. Materials and Methods: Cell growth assay, QPCR and immunostaining were carried out. Telogen-to-anagen transition and organ culture were conducted. ROS level was monitored by staining DCFDA. Results: We investigated the hair inductive effect of EREG and the mechanism of stimulation on DPCs and ORS cells during hair cycling. Whereas EREG promoted hair growth, EREG knockdown inhibited hair growth as evidenced by telogen-to-anagen transition and organ culture models. EREG was expressed in epidermal cells including ORS cells in vivo. EREG activated phospho-ErbB4 in DPCs during hair cycling and stimulated DPCs via ErbB4 activation in vitro. In terms of the underlying mechanism, reactive oxygen species (ROS) played a key role in DPC stimulation. EREG also activated phospho-EGF receptor (EGFR) in epidermal cells including matrix and ORS cells in vivo and stimulated ORS cells via EGFR activation in vitro. Conclusions: EREG, which is released from ORS cells, activated EGFR and ErbB4 on epidermal cells and DPCs during hair cycling, respectively. As a result, EREG stimulated epidermal cells a positive feedback and DPCs via regulating ROS generation for hair growth. Therefore, EREG therapy may be a novel solution for hair loss treatment.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Article number | e12881 |
Journal | Cell Proliferation |
Volume | 53 |
Issue number | 9 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2020 Sep 1 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This study was supported by a grant from the National Research Foundation (NRF2018R1A6A1A03023718, NRF2020R1A2C101273311) funded by the Korean Government.
Funding Information:
This study was supported by a grant from the National Research Foundation (NRF2018R1A6A1A03023718, NRF2020R1A2C101273311) funded by the Korean Government.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Authors. Cell Proliferation published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Cell Biology