MicroRNA-149-Mediated MAPK1/ERK2 Suppression Attenuates Hair Follicle Stem Cell Differentiation
February 2022
in “
Human Gene Therapy
”
TLDR Increasing miR-149 reduces hair follicle stem cell growth and hair development by affecting certain cell growth pathways.
The study involved 60 mice and investigated the role of microRNA-149 (miR-149) in hair follicle stem cell (HFSC) differentiation and hair growth. The researchers found that overexpression of miR-149 in HFSCs inhibited cell proliferation, differentiation, and hair growth. This was achieved by miR-149 targeting and inversely regulating the expression of MAPK1/ERK2, a gene involved in cell proliferation and differentiation. Additionally, MAPK1/ERK2 was found to accelerate HFSC proliferation and differentiation through the expression of FGF2, a growth factor involved in hair development, which in turn promoted HFSC differentiation by augmenting the expression of c-MYC, a gene involved in cell cycle progression. The study concluded that miR-149 plays a crucial role in HFSC differentiation and hair growth by regulating the MAPK1/ERK2-FGF2-c-MYC pathway.
