1371 FGF7-dependent inhibition of human hair growth byan osteopontin-derived peptide: A novel solution for hirsutism and hypertrichosis?

Unwanted hair growth (hirsutism, hypertrichosis) can cause major psychological distress. Therefore, new pharmacological treatment strategies that safely and effectively inhibit hair growth while preserving the hair follicle (HF) stem cells pool need to be developed. Since human HFs express the immunomodulatory glycoprotein, osteopontin, we hypothesized that osteopontin-derived fragments may modulate human hair growth. This hypothesis was tested ex vivo and in vivo by using a newly generated, toxicologically well-characterized, modified osteopontin-derived peptide (FOL-005), which binds to the HFs outer root sheath.

Source: Journal of Investigative Dermatology - April 27, 2018 Category: Dermatology Authors: M. Bertolini, M. Alam, J. Gherardini, A. Keren, L. Ponce, J. Alenfall, P. Dun ér, A. Nilsson, A. Gilhar, R. Paus Tags: Skin, Appendages, and Stem Cell Biology Source Type: research