The Role of Smads in Skin Development
TLDR Smad-4 and Smad-7 are key in hair follicle development, with other Smads being less important.
The study explored the role of Smads in skin development, focusing on their mediation of TGF-β, Activin, and BMP signaling pathways. It found that Smad-4 primarily influenced hair follicle differentiation through BMP signaling, while Smad-7 impacted hair follicle development by blocking the TGFβ/Activin/BMP pathway and inhibiting WNT/β-catenin signaling via ubiquitin-mediated β-catenin degradation. Other Smads were found to have redundant or dispensable roles in skin development. The review highlighted both traditional and novel signaling pathways involving Smads in skin development.