122 citations
,
January 2006 in “Molecular & Cellular Proteomics” This study found that keratin and other hair proteins in humans are extensively modified posttranslationally, which helps explain the structural characteristics of mature hair.
14 citations
,
September 2017 in “Proteomics. Clinical applications” This review discusses advancements and gaps in using proteomics for hair testing and its potential in developing a medical proteome repository, but reports no new research findings.
December 2025 in “Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry” This study found that pepsin digestion was more effective than trypsin at identifying keratin-associated proteins in human hair shafts and confirmed that trypsin introduced a bias in the analysis of protein composition that pepsin can correct.
68 citations
,
August 2014 in “PeerJ” This study found that proteomic analysis can distinguish hair samples across different ethnicities and body regions based on keratin protein levels, which may aid forensic hair identification.
38 citations
,
October 2011 in “Analytical biochemistry” This study used proteomic techniques to analyze human hair proteins, revealing keratin heterogeneity and identifying posttranslational modifications, such as cysteine trioxidation and methylation.