Dissecting the Impact of Chemotherapy on the Human Hair Follicle
October 2007
in “The American journal of pathology”
TLDR Chemotherapy damages hair follicles, causing hair loss and other cellular changes.
The study explored the effects of chemotherapy on human hair follicles (HFs) using an organ culture system with microdissected human scalp HFs in anagen VI. The key cyclophosphamide metabolite, 4-HC, induced changes in the HFs that mimicked chemotherapy-induced damage observed in vivo, such as melanin clumping, reduced keratinocyte proliferation, increased apoptosis, premature catagen induction, and up-regulated p53. Additionally, 4-HC caused DNA oxidation and mitochondrial DNA deletion. The system identified new molecular targets for chemotherapy-induced HF damage and tested potential protectants like keratinocyte growth factor. This model provided a valuable tool for studying and mitigating chemotherapy's impact on human HFs.
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