Research Highlights

Human hair follicles operate an internal Cori cycle and modulate their growth via glycogen phosphorylase Karazyna Figlak, Greg Williams, Ralf Paus, Marta Bertolini, Michael P. Philpott Br J Dermatol, 2021 Hair follicles (HFs) in the growth stage (anagen) exhibit a great degree of cell division. On top of this, there is a high rate of […]

A common side-effect of cancer chemotherapy is hair loss, termed chemotherapy-induced alopecia (CIA). CIA is perhaps the most visual of the side-effects of chemotherapy and is highly distressing for patients who experience it. In most patients, this effect is temporary and the lost hair will regrow within 3 months. In the remaining, the lost hair […]

PPARγ signaling protects hair follicle stem cells from chemotherapy-induced apoptosis and epithelial-mesenchymal transition Ilaria Piccini, Lars Brunken, Jérémy Chéret , Sushmita Ghatak, Yamus Ramot, Majid Alam , Talveen S Purba , Jonathan Hardman , Hanna Erdmann , Francisco Jimenez , Ralf Paus , Marta Bertolini Br J Dermatol, 2021 In this article, the therapeutic potential of the PPARγ agonist N-Acetyl-GED-0507-34-Levo (NAGED) in preventing chemotherapy-induced alopecia (CIA) is reported. CIA is a common […]

Quantitative mapping of human hair greying and reversal in relation to life stressAyelet M Rosenberg, Shannon Rausser, Junting Ren, Eugene V Mosharov, Gabriel Sturm, R Todd Ogden, Purvi Patel, Rajesh Kumar Soni, Clay Lacefield, Desmond J Tobin, Ralf Paus, Martin PicardElife, 2021Hair fibres hold a ‘picture’ of a person’s recent life events in the patterns of hair pigmentation and proteins expressed over time which can […]

γδT-cells are unconventional T lymphocytes that are only sparsely found in blood and secondary lymphoid organs. Instead, they are enriched in barrier organs such as the skin and can respond to conserved self and non-self antigens to assist in tissue immunosurveillance. Today, it is well accepted that γδT-cells, which express pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-17, […]

Enzyme involved in lysosomal disorders has surprising role in hair pigmentation. The enzyme UDP-GlcNAc-1-Phosphotransferase (GNPTAB) is shown by the authors of a recent study to be a clinically important enzyme in the control of human hair pigmentation. GNPTAB is an enzyme that is involved in the correct intracellular shuttling of lysosomal enzymes to lysosomes […]

Evidence from a humanized mouse model of androgenetic alopecia that platelet-rich plasma (PRP) stimulates hair regrowth, hair shaft diameter and vellus-to-terminal hair reconversion in vivo. Laufer Britva R et al., Br J Dermatol, 2021 Autologous platelet-rich plasma (PRP) has been increasingly used for androgenetic alopecia (AGA) management in both men and women, with several studies […]

Being able to sense and process environmental cues is among the most fundamental requirements of life and thus not only restricted to the specialized cells that we use to smell and taste. In fact, a team of scientists from Monasterium Laboratory, the University of Miami (USA) and the University of Manchester (UK) has recently […]

A team of researchers from the University of Manchester, University of Miami, and Monasterium Laboratory in Münster, Germany, have recently reported a novel methodology that closes an important gap in current hair research technology. The study published in the journal Archives of Dermatological Research1 identifies a pragmatic, elegant and instructive compromise between the well-established study […]

Compartmentalised metabolic programmes in human anagen hair follicles: New targets to modulate epithelial stem cell behaviour, keratinocyte proliferation and hair follicle immune status? Purba et al. Exp Dermatol 2021 Lactate, the end-product of aerobic glycolysis (Warburg effect), is important for much more than just energy metabolism and is now recognized to impact on many aspects […]

Investigations revealed the significance of the overlooked population of T-cells—the Gamma-delta-T-cells (γδT-cells)—in Alopecia Areata pathogenesis1 Our skin contains a varied population of T-cells, the crucial elements of the immune system that perform surveillance on specific foreign bodies. Even so, sometimes instead of protecting, they turn into a self-attacking mode, which is seen in the case […]

Re-innervation of human skin by rat dorsal root ganglia permits to study interactions between sensory nerve fibres and native human dermal mast cells ex vivo. Chéret J. et al., Exp. Dermatol., 2021 Despite several practical benefits, human skin organ cultures typically suffer from denervation—a loss of nerve supply. It hinders dermatological studies tracking a sensory […]

Topical odorant application of the specific olfactory receptor OR2AT4 agonist, Sandalore®, improves telogen effluvium associated parameters. Jimenez. F et al., J Cosmet Dermatol, 2020 Excess hair shedding called telogen effluvium is one of the most common complaints in women yet there are few clinically demonstrated cosmetic solutions available. In this randomized, double‐blinded, placebo‐controlled, clinical trial, […]

Monocyte (MO)-derived macrophages (MACs) and self-renewable tissue-resident macrophages (tr-MACs) play an important role in regulating and maintaining MAC pool during inflammation in murine skin (1). However, our current understanding of MACs origin and their differentiation in peripheral tissues is limited to murine studies and the existence of such activities in human skin remains elusive. […]

Theophylline exerts complex anti-aging and anti-cytotoxicity effects in human skin ex vivo. Bertolini. M et al., Int J Cosmet Sci, 2020 The detailed insights of the effect of theophylline on human skin are poorly understood. Here, we show that theophylline possesses several striking complex skin-protecting properties in human skin by employing the clinically relevant […]