Prolactin: A Novel Neuroendocrine Regulator of Human Keratin Expression In Situ

January 2010 in “ The FASEB Journal ”

Yuval Ramot, Tamás Bı́ró, Stephan Tiede, Balázs István Tóth, Ewan A. Langan, Koji Sugawara, Kerstin Foitzik, Arieh Ingber, Vincent Goffin, Lutz Langbein, Ralf Paus

prolactin keratin keratin K5 keratin K14 keratin K15 keratin K19 keratin K6 keratin K31 PRL receptor antagonist hair follicles neuroendocrine regulator keratin expression skin disorders hair growth disorders PRL PRL receptor blocker

TLDR Prolactin affects the production of different keratins in human hair, which could lead to new treatments for skin and hair disorders.

In the 2010 study, researchers discovered that prolactin (PRL) significantly influences keratin expression in human hair follicles. PRL up-regulated keratins K5, K14, K15, and K19, and down-regulated K6 and K31, with these effects being reversible by a PRL receptor antagonist. The study, which used organ-cultured hair follicles from 9 healthy females aged 44-67 and employed quantitative immunohistomorphometry and qPCR analyses, suggests that PRL is a key neuroendocrine regulator of human keratin expression and could have clinical implications for skin and hair growth disorders. The findings also indicate that PRL's effects on keratin expression are direct, potentially offering new therapeutic approaches for diseases characterized by keratin abnormalities.

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