Hair Depigmentation Is a Biological Readout for Pharmacological Inhibition of KIT in Mice and Humans

October 2003 in “ Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics ”

Katherine G. Moss, Guy C. Toner, Julie M. Cherrington, Dirk B. Mendel, A. Douglas Laird

hair depigmentation KIT inhibition SU11248 melanocytes hair follicles biomarker Sunitinib

TLDR Hair color loss can indicate the effectiveness of a drug targeting the KIT protein in mice and humans.

The document from 2003 describes a study that found hair depigmentation to be a useful biological marker for the inhibition of KIT, a protein involved in various cancers and inflammation, by the drug SU11248. In mice, the drug caused dose-dependent hair depigmentation that was reversible after stopping treatment, without affecting the number of KIT-positive melanocytes in hair follicles. This was also observed in human cancer patients, where periods of hair depigmentation corresponded with the drug treatment phases. The study did not specify the number of participants but highlighted the potential of hair depigmentation as a noninvasive biomarker for monitoring KIT inhibition in clinical settings.

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