Background: Topical immunotherapy with diphencyprone (DPCP) for the treatment of severe alopecia areata has been used since 1983 and is felt to be the treatment of choice for chronic extensive alopecia areata. Highly variable results have been reported. The purposes of this study were to evaluate the efficacy of DPCP in the treatment of chronic, extensive alopecia areata and to assess the...

The JmjC-domain-containing protein Hairless (HR) and the vitamin D receptor (VDR) play a critical role in the maintenance of hair growth. Mutations in HR or VDR cause alopecia in humans and mice. Here we show that HR interacts with VDR and induces VDR relocalization in the nuclei. HR associates and colocalizes with nuclear receptor co-repressor (N-CoR) which is localized to subnuclear structure...

The aqueous ethanol extract of Myricae Cortex (bark of Myrica rubra Sieb. et Zucc., Myricaceae) showed in vitro testosterone 5alpha-reductase inhibitory activity and in vivo anti-androgenic activity using growth of flank organ in castrated Syrian hamsters and/or hair regrowth after shaving in testosterone-treated C57Black/6CrSlc mice. Three constituents, myricanone, myricanol, and myricetin wer...

There is wide variation in the normal pattern of hair growth. Hypertrichosis, which can be defined as excessive growth of hair compared with that in other subjects of the same age, sex, and race, must be distinguished from hirsutism, a term restricted to an androgen dependent hair pattern that is characterised by excessive hair growth on the upper lip, chin, chest, linea alba, thighs, and axill...

Hypertrichosis is one of the most common side effects of systemic cyclosporine A therapy. It has been previously shown that cyclosporine A induces anagen and inhibits catagen development in mice. In the present study, to explore the mechanisms of cyclosporine A, we investigated the effects of cyclosporine A on hair shaft elongation, hair follicle cell proliferation, apoptosis, and mRNA expressi...

We have known for over 30 years that minoxidil stimulates hair growth, yet our understanding of its mechanism of action on the hair follicle is very limited. In animal studies, topical minoxidil shortens telogen, causing premature entry of resting hair follicles into anagen, and it probably has a similar action in humans. Minoxidil may also cause prolongation of anagen and increases hair follic...

Root hairs provide a model system for the study of cell polarity. We examined the possibility that one or more members of the distinct plant subfamily of RHO monomeric GTPases, termed Rop, may function as molecular switches regulating root hair growth. Specific Rops are known to control polar growth in pollen tubes. Overexpressing Rop2 (Rop2 OX) resulted in a strong root hair phenotype, whereas...

Several forms of hair loss in humans are characterized by the inability of hair follicles to enter the growth phase (anagen) of the hair cycle after being arrested in the resting phase (telogen). Current pharmacologic therapies have been largely unsuccessful in targeting pathways that can be selectively modulated to induce entry into anagen. We show that topical treatment of mouse and human ski...

Bacterial infections represent a rapidly growing challenge to human health. Aminoglycosides are widely used broad-spectrum antibiotics, but they inflict permanent hearing loss in up to ~50% of patients by causing selective sensory hair cell loss. Here, we hypothesized that reducing aminoglycoside entry into hair cells via mechanotransducer channels would reduce ototoxicity, and therefore we syn...

TIMP (tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase) is a glycoprotein inhibitor of metalloproteinases that we hypothesize to be involved in the tissue remodeling that occurs during each hair growth cycle. We examined this hypothesis by studying the expression of TIMP at selected times during a single hair cycle using TIMP-lacZ transgenic mice to localize TIMP gene activity in the hair follicle. TIMP g...