Bone Morphogenetic Proteins Are Critical Factors for Hair Follicle Epithelial-Mesenchymal Interactions in Androgenetic Alopecia
September 2017
Studysummary This study concluded that bone morphogenetic proteins are crucial for hair follicle stem cell differentiation and that their downregulation by androgens may contribute to the development of androgenetic alopecia.
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The study from 6 years ago investigated the role of Bone Morphogenetic Proteins (BMPs) in hair follicle interactions and their impact on androgenetic alopecia (AGA). It was found that BMPs, specifically BMP-2 and BMP-4, are crucial for maintaining key features of dermal papilla cells (DPC) and promoting hair growth. The study revealed that androgens, specifically dihydrotestosterone (DHT), significantly downregulated the expression of BMPs, leading to a decrease in hair inductivity. However, the addition of recombinant BMP-2 restored this inductivity. The study concluded that the downregulation of BMPs by androgens could contribute to the development of AGA, suggesting that BMPs could potentially be used to counteract the effects of DHT and promote hair growth.
