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Role of thymosin beta 4 in hair growth

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Abstract

Although thymosin beta 4 (Tβ4) is known to play a role in hair growth, its mechanism of action is unclear. We examined the levels of key genes in a Tβ4 epidermal-specific over-expressing mouse model and Tβ4 global knockout mouse model to explore how Tβ4 affects hair growth. By depilation and histological examination of the skin, we confirmed the effect of Tβ4 on hair growth, the number of hair shafts and hair follicle (HF) structure. The mRNA and protein expression of several genes involved in hair growth were detected by real-time PCR and western blotting, respectively. Changes in the expression of β-catenin and Lef-1, the two key molecules in the Wnt signaling pathway, were similar to the changes observed in Tβ4 expression. We also found that compared to the control mice, the mRNA and protein expression of MMP-2 and VEGF were increased in the Tβ4 over-expressing mice, while the level of E-cadherin (E-cad) remained the same. Further, in the Tβ4 global knockout mice, the mRNA and protein levels of MMP-2 and VEGF decreased dramatically and the level of E-cad was stable. Based on the above results, we believe that Tβ4 may regulate the levels of VEGF and MMP-2 via the Wnt/β-catenin/Lef-1 signaling pathway to influence the growth of blood vessels around HFs and to activate cell migration. Tβ4 may have potential for the treatment of hair growth problems in adults, and its effects should be further confirmed in future studies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Research Center for Animal Transgenic Biotechnology, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, 010070, China

    Xiao-yu Gao, Fang Hou, Zhi-peng Zhang, Ming-tu Nuo, Hao Liang, Ming Cang, Xin Wang, Xu-dong Guo & Dong-jun Liu

  2. School of Life Sciences, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, 010020, China

    Zhi-gang Wang

  3. Institute of Biomedical Informatics, School of Laboratory Medicine and Life Science, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, 325000, China

    Teng Xu

  4. Institute of Animal Science, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Science, Nanjing, 210000, China

    Le-yan Yan

Authors
  1. Xiao-yu Gao
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  2. Fang Hou
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  3. Zhi-peng Zhang
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  4. Ming-tu Nuo
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  5. Hao Liang
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  6. Ming Cang
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  7. Zhi-gang Wang
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  8. Xin Wang
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  9. Teng Xu
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  10. Le-yan Yan
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  11. Xu-dong Guo
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  12. Dong-jun Liu
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Xu-dong Guo or Dong-jun Liu.

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Conflict of interest

None of the authors have any conflicts of interest to declare.

Funding

This work was supported by grants from the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (863 Program) [Grant No. 2013AA102506]; and the Program of National Science Foundation of China [Grant No. 31160228].

Ethical approval

All the surgeries were performed with the mice under 2,2,2-tribromoethanol-induced (Sigma-Aldrich, St Louis, MO) anesthesia. All the experiments adhered to the guidelines laid down by the National Research Council Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, and were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of Inner Mongolia University.

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Communicated by S. Hohmann.

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Gao, Xy., Hou, F., Zhang, Zp. et al. Role of thymosin beta 4 in hair growth. Mol Genet Genomics 291, 1639–1646 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00438-016-1207-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00438-016-1207-y

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