Single-Cell Transcriptomics Reveals Hair Growth Retardation Mediated by Aberrant Connective Tissue Sheath Contraction in Male Androgenetic Alopecia

February 2026 in “ Nature Communications ”

Guo Li, L.I. Yang, Shixin Duan, Ben Wang, Yujin Zhang, Fangfen Liu, Yunying Wang, Jiayun Li, San Xu, Zheng Wu, Mei Wang, Ben Wang, Zhixiang Zhao, Wei Shi, Mingxing Lei, Hongfu Xie, Yan Tang, Zhili Deng, Ji Li

androgenetic alopecia connective tissue sheath PIEZO1 hair follicle progenitor cells hair follicle miniaturization ML-7 myosin light chain kinase inhibitor AGA

Studysummary This study combined spatial and single-cell transcriptomics to identify that hypercontractility of the connective tissue sheath activates PIEZO1 in hair follicles, leading to miniaturization in male androgenetic alopecia, and found that inhibiting this contraction improves hair growth in models.

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