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Some Elaine Fuchs info.................... (Hair Multiplication & Research)

posted by Arch Koven, 04.05.2008, 23:02

» (Jan. 25, 2008) — Like fine china and crystal, which tend to be used
» sparingly, stem cells divide infrequently. It was thought they did so to
» protect themselves from unnecessary wear and tear. But now new research
» from Rockefeller University has unveiled the protein that puts the brakes
» on stem cell division and shows that stem cells may not need such guarded
» protection to maintain their potency.
»
» This research, to be published in the January 25 issue of Cell, raises
» questions about what stem cells need in order to maintain their ability to
» regenerate tissue. It may also be key in developing new treatments for
» thinning hair.
» The impetus for the work began five years ago when Elaine Fuchs, head of
» the Laboratory of Mammalian Cell Biology and Development, and several
» researchers in her lab discovered that the protein NFATc1 was one of only a
» few that are highly expressed within the stem cell compartment of the hair
» follicle. Clinical research, meanwhile, showed that a particular
» immunosuppressant that inhibits NFATc1, a drug called cyclosporine A, has a
» rather unsightly side effect: excessive hair growth.
» Fuchs and Valerie Horsley, a postdoc in her lab, realized that there was a
» connection between the drug’s side effect and the abundance of NFATc1
» within the hair follicle’s stem cell compartment — the bulge. The mice they
» treated with the drug grew fur at a much faster rate than mice they did not
» treat. The researchers then showed that this excessive hair growth was due
» to increased stem cell activity within the bulge, a process that cranked up
» the production of hair. Specifically, the hair cycle shifted gears from its
» resting phase, when stem cells slumber, to its growth phase, when stem
» cells proliferate.
» To maintain their multipotent properties, though, it appears that these
» stem cells hardly needed much “rest” at all. These findings came as a
» surprise to the researchers, who, like their colleagues, had believed that
» stem cells proliferating infrequently protected them from depletion or
» mutations that would lead to hair loss. “It seems like the resting phase
» isn’t as necessary as was once thought,” says Horsley. “Even though these
» stem cells are highly proliferative, they still maintain their stem cell
» character.”
» Using genetically engineered mice bred by colleagues at Harvard Medical
» School, Horsley and Fuchs then further explored what happens when skin stem
» cells lack NFATc1. They found that these mice looked exactly like the hairy
» mice that were treated with cyclosporine A: The loss of NFATc1 didn’t stop
» the hair cycle, but rather shortened the resting phase and prompted
» precocious entry to the growth state.
» In probing the underlying mechanisms mediating this process, Horsley and
» Fuchs discovered that NFATc1, a transcription factor, blocks the expression
» of a gene that provides the cell cycle with “go ahead” signals at certain
» checkpoints. By blocking these signals, NFATc1 prevents the stem cells from
» dividing, preventing unnecessary wear and tear. These same cells, if
» treated with cyclosporine A, show a rapid loss of the transcription factor,
» an effect that turns the light green at these checkpoints.
» For those with thinning hair, this research may hold promise. As people
» age, the resting phase of the hair cycle gets longer and longer such that
» the stem cells proliferate less frequently and hair does not grow at the
» rate it once did. “If we could use a local and more specific inhibitor of
» NFATc1 than cyclosporine A to stimulate these stem cells, which are just
» sitting there during an extended resting phase, we might be able to promote
» new hair growth,” says Fuchs, who is Rebecca C. Lancefield Professor at
» Rockefeller and an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. “In
» a sense, by blocking NFATc1 activity in our older mice, their hair
» follicles were brought back to what appeared to be a more youthful state.”
» So far, these proliferating stem cells lacking NFATc1 have not led to
» increased tumor formation, which is often a dangerous byproduct of
» triggering stem cells into action. “This is the first case where we have
» been able to activate the hair cycle without accompanying signs of
» tumorigenesis,” says Fuchs. “If we can control the activation process of
» follicle stem cells without promoting tumorigenesis, then this would be a
» big move in the right direction.”
» This research was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health,
» American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Damon Runyon Cancer
» Research Foundation. Fuchs is a faculty member in Rockefeller’s Center for
» Clinical and Translational Science, which is supported by the NIH’s
» Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) program.
»
» Article 2
»
» Hair Formation, Skin Stem Cells And BMP Signaling
»
» The February 15th cover story of G&D reports on the recent discovery by
» Dr. Elaine Fuchs and colleagues at the Rockefeller University that BMP
» signaling in dermal papilla cells is important for hair follicle formation.
»
»
» The dermal papilla (DP) is a small cluster of mesenchymal cells that exist
» at the base of the hair follicle, and instruct nearby epithelial stem cells
» to induce hair follicle growth. But because DP cells are so few in number,
» and loose their hair-inducing potential in culture, the details of this
» molecular conversation have remained elusive.
»
» Dr. Fuchs’ team developed a clever genetic strategy to delete specific
» genes of interest in DP cells, and then graft these genetically engineered
» cells onto the backs of immunocompromised (and bald) mice, to study the
» effect of gene deficiency on hair growth.
»
» The researchers found that deletion of the receptor for the bone
» morphogenetic protein 1a (BMPR1a) in DP cells prevented the formation of
» hair follicles in engrafted mice. However, if BMPR1a is intact in DP cells,
» and a bit more BMP protein is added to the cells, then the DP-stem cell
» cross-talk is prolonged, and recipient mice grow a tuft of hair on their
» otherwise bald backs.
»
» “Several years ago, we devised a method to purify the cells and
» characterize the genes expressed by the DP and its neighboring cells that
» make hair,” says Fuchs. “This gave us clues that BMP signaling might be
» important in specifying the unique hair-inducing properties of DP cells.
» We’ve now succeeded in testing this possibility and our findings are
» important not only for our understanding of the mesenchymal-epithelial
» crosstalk that is so critical for hair production, but also for developing
» new and improved methods for stimulating hair growth.”
»
»
»
» Interesting.


can you give a lay-man's explanation/summary?


Arch Koven is located in [NA] and he is available to meet: NO

Complete thread:

• Some Elaine Fuchs info.................... - benji, 04.05.2008, 22:19 (Hair Multiplication & Research)
  • Some Elaine Fuchs info.................... - Arch Koven, 04.05.2008, 23:02
    • Some Elaine Fuchs info.................... - benji, 04.05.2008, 23:52