Retinoic Acid Drives Hair Follicle Stem Cell Activation via Wnt/Beta-Catenin Signalling in Androgenetic Alopecia

April 2024 in “ JEADV. Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology/Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology ”

Lihong Wen, Zhexiang Fan, Wei-Chang Huang, Yong Miao, Jiarui Zhang, Bingcheng Liu, Decong Zhu, Damao Dai, Jiaxian Zhang, Demengjie Le, Yufan Zhang, Yuyang Gan, Zhiqi Hu, Ruosi Chen

retinoic acid hair follicle stem cells Wnt/β-catenin signalling androgenetic alopecia telogen anagen hair regeneration hair count hair density hair diameter RA HFSCs AGA

TLDR Retinoic acid helps activate hair growth in people with common hair loss by working on a specific cell growth pathway.

The study involved 92 participants with androgenetic alopecia (AGA) and found that retinoic acid (RA) plays a crucial role in activating hair follicle stem cells (HFSCs) and promoting hair growth. RA levels were found to increase during the transition from the resting phase (telogen) to the growth phase (anagen), contributing to the initiation of the growth phase. RA was also found to promote the proliferation and differentiation of HFSCs by regulating Wnt/β-catenin signalling, a key pathway for maintaining the hair follicle cycle. In AGA patients, RA signalling was inhibited, but hair regeneration improved after RA treatment. A clinical study showed significant improvements in hair count, density, and diameter after one month of RA treatment, suggesting that RA could be a potential new therapeutic target for hair loss.

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