Identifying Novel Strategies for Treating Human Hair Loss Disorders: Cyclosporine A Suppresses the Wnt Inhibitor, SFRP1, in the Dermal Papilla of Human Scalp Hair Follicles

In the 2018 study, researchers explored the potential of Cyclosporine A (CsA) for treating human hair loss disorders and found that it suppresses the Wnt inhibitor SFRP1 in the dermal papilla of human scalp hair follicles. The study involved various experiments, including microarray analysis, which showed significant down-regulation of SFRP1 in CsA-treated hair follicles. Further tests with the SFRP1 antagonist WAY-316606 indicated that inhibiting SFRP1 could enhance hair shaft production and extend the anagen phase of hair follicles ex vivo. The study included hair follicles from multiple male patient samples, with specific group sizes ranging from 8 to 18 hair follicles for hair cycle stage quantification and 12 to 15 hair follicles for Ki-67/TUNEL analysis. The findings suggest that targeting SFRP1 with WAY-316606 could be a promising new strategy for promoting human hair growth and treating hair loss disorders, potentially avoiding the oncological risks associated with chronic Wnt over-activation.