LB1014 Hedgehog signaling reprograms hair follicle mesenchyme toward a hyper-activated state

Abstract

Dermal papilla (DP) is the key mesenchymal niche cell type, that regulates cyclic regeneration of hair follicles by orchestrating paracrine signaling crosstalk with epithelial progenitors. We discovered that leptin receptor (Lepr) is a robust marker gene of adult DP fibroblasts in mice and that constitutive Cre and inducible CreER genetic tools, whose activity follows the expression of the Lepr isoform B, can efficiently target DPs for labeling and gene modulation during both growth (anagen) and rest (telogen) phases of the hair growth cycle.