The Early Region of Trichodysplasia Spinulosa Polyomavirus Drives Proliferation, Altered Differentiation, and Ectopic Expression of Hair Follicle Differentiation Markers in Interfollicular Tail Epidermis
trichodysplasia spinulosa TSPyV polyomavirus hair follicle disorder immunosuppressed viral early region genes dysmorphic hair follicles hyperplastic interfollicular tail epidermis epidermal keratins inner root sheath marker trichohyalin hair-specific keratin TS polyomavirus hair disorder immunosuppression ER genes abnormal hair follicles thickened skin skin keratins inner root sheath hair keratin
TLDR The early genes of a specific virus can cause abnormal skin cell growth and hair follicle changes.
Trichodysplasia spinulosa (TS) is a rare hair follicle disorder that occurs in immunosuppressed patients due to infection by the TSPyV polyomavirus. The study used bitransgenic iK5;TSER mice to investigate the impact of viral early region (ER) genes on epithelial biology. The expression of these genes led to the development of numerous dysmorphic hair follicles and hyperplastic interfollicular tail epidermis. These areas contained proliferating cells deficient in epidermal keratins and some even expressed the inner root sheath marker trichohyalin and hair-specific keratin. The findings suggest that in addition to driving cell cycle progression for viral genome replication, the ER genes may also contribute to human pathology by altering the differentiation status of target cells.
