April 2023 in “Journal of Investigative Dermatology” In this study, researchers found that autophagy is crucial for maintaining the mature protein composition of hair shafts, with its disruption leading to increased levels of various proteins, suggesting potential diagnostic applications for detecting impaired autophagy through hair proteomic analysis.
February 2026 in “British Journal of Dermatology” This study found that while tape-strip RNA sequencing effectively profiles surface-connected epithelial compartments of human hair follicles, deeper follicular programs require traditional biopsies, except in cases of alopecia areata, which enhances the technique's follicular reach in capturing inflammatory signatures.
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July 2023 in “The journal of investigative dermatology/Journal of investigative dermatology” This study found that blocking autophagy in Atg7-deficient mouse hair keratinocytes altered the molecular composition of hair shafts by increasing the abundance of proteins involved in protein turnover while keratins remained unchanged, highlighting autophagy's role in reducing non-cytoskeletal protein concentrations in hair.
29 citations
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August 2011 in “PubMed” This study describes how shotgun proteomics can identify over 300 proteins in hair shafts, potentially allowing for the diagnosis of diseases through noninvasive human proteome sampling.
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January 2001 in “Bioscience Biotechnology and Biochemistry” This study found that partial protein extraction from keratinized tissues, such as hair and nails, reveals protein patterns distinct from whole protein extracts, including the presence of ubiquitin.