Bone Morphogenetic Protein Signaling Inhibits Hair Follicle Anagen Induction by Restricting Epithelial Stem/Progenitor Cell Activation and Expansion

September 2006 in “ Stem Cells ”

Jiwang Zhang, Xi He, Weigang Tong, Teri Johnson, Leanne M. Wiedemann, Yuji Mishina, Jian Q. Feng, Linheng Li

Bone Morphogenetic Protein BMP anagen phase hair follicles epithelial stem cells EP-SCs bulge region Noggin BMP antagonist BMP type IA receptor Bmpr1a beta-catenin Wnt signaling PTEN phosphatidyl inositol 3-kinase-Akt pathway

Studysummary This study found that active BMP signaling prevents epithelial stem cell activation and expansion in hair follicles, while its inhibition leads to HF stem/progenitor cell overproduction and matricomas. Our plain-language summary of this paper — not a Tressless recommendation.

The study demonstrated that Bone Morphogenetic Protein (BMP) signaling inhibited the induction of the anagen phase in hair follicles by restricting the activation and expansion of epithelial stem cells (EP-SCs) in the bulge region. The expression of Noggin, a BMP antagonist, was shown to release EP-SCs from this restriction, allowing for their activation and the initiation of the anagen phase. Conditional inactivation of the BMP type IA receptor (Bmpr1a) in EP-SCs led to an overproduction of hair follicle stem/progenitor cells and the formation of matricomas. This manipulation also unexpectedly activated beta-catenin, a key component of Wnt signaling. The study proposed that BMP activity controlled the hair follicle cycle by antagonizing Wnt/beta-catenin activity, partly through BMP-mediated enhancement of PTEN function, which inhibited beta-catenin activity via the phosphatidyl inositol 3-kinase-Akt pathway.

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Research cited in this study

17 / 17 results

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