Inducing Hair Follicle Neogenesis with Secreted Proteins Enriched in Embryonic Skin

The study from 2018 found that a combination of three secreted proteins—apolipoprotein-A1, galectin-1, and lumican—enriched in embryonic skin was essential and sufficient to induce hair follicle neogenesis in adult non-hair fibroblasts. These proteins altered the gene expression of adult cells to resemble hair follicle dermal papilla fibroblasts and activated key signaling pathways for hair regeneration. The research demonstrated that adult dermal fibroblasts could be reprogrammed to participate in new hair follicle formation when exposed to these proteins. The findings suggest a potential new treatment strategy for hair loss and alopecia by using specific extracellular protein factors to regenerate hair follicles. The study used a moderate sample size, typically around 10 samples for various experiments, to reach its conclusions.