Elucidation of the mechanisms for hair follicle aging focusing on stem cell divisions
Description: Hair follicles, mammalian mini-organs that grow hair, miniaturize during aging, leading to hair thinning and loss. In this study, we revealed that hair follicle stem cells (HFSCs) lose their regenerative capabilities during aging owing to the adoption of an atypical cell division program. This type of division is accompanied by the destabilization of hemidesmosomal protein COL17A1 and cell polarity protein aPKCλ and generates terminally differentiating epidermal cells instead of regenerating the hair follicle niche. With the repetition of these atypical divisions, HFSCs detach from the basal membrane causing their exhaustion, elimination and organ aging. These results demonstrate that distinct stem cell division programs may govern tissue and organ aging.
Amount: ¥17,420,000
Funding type: research
Funder scheme: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
Start date: 2018-04-01
End date: 2021-03-31
Investigator: Hiroyuki Matsumura
Institution: Tokyo Medical and Dental University
Funded outputs count: 5
Funder award ID: 18H02637
OpenAlex ID: G554610386