Abstract
ObjectiveDuring hair follicle regeneration, hair follicle stem cells (HFSCs) are regulated by signals from dermal papilla cells (DPCs). Previously we found that Tcf4 could promote the proliferation of DPCs. In this study, we focused on whether and how the biological properties of Tcf4-induced DPCs were regulated by Twist1.MethodsTwist1 was overexpressed or knocked down in DPCs following different adenovirus or lentivirus infection. Phase-contrast microscopy was used to observe the agglutinative growth of DPCs. The CCK-8 assay was used to test the proliferation of DPCs. Western blot and qPCR experiments were used to determine the expression of HGF, IGF-1, VEGF, c-myc, survivin, and CyclinD1 in DPCs. ELISAs were used to test the growth factors secreted by DPCs. Conditional medium culture was used to detect the inductive ability of DPCs. Co-immunoprecipitation and immunofluorescence were used to test the binding of Twist1, Tcf4, and β-catenin in DPCs. Immunofluorescence was also used to test the expression of Twist1, Tcf4, and KRT15 in hair follicles.ResultsTwist1 induced DPC agglutinative growth and proliferation. Twist1 upregulated the expression of downstream target genes downstream of Tcf4, c-myc, survivin, in Tcf4-induced DPCs, as well as the expression and secretion of growth factors HGF, IGF-1, VEGF, which had the ability to induce hair follicle growth. The conditional medium from Twist1-treated DPCs increased the expression of KRT40 and MSX2 in HaCaT cells. Twist1 and Tcf4 co-localized in DPCs both in vitro and in vivo. Anti-Twist1 precipitated Tcf4 and β-catenin.ConclusionThese results indicate that Tcf4 and Twist1 play a synergistic role in regulating the hair follicle induction ability of DPCs. Twist1 functions by forming a ternary complex with Tcf4 and β-catenin. Thus, we report new data that elucidate whether and how Twist1 regulates some biological properties of DPCs.
Highlights
Hair loss is one of the most common dermatological diseases
To determine whether Twist1 affects the agglutinative growth of Dermal papilla cells (DPCs), an adenovirus mediating overexpression of Twist1 was added to cultured DPCs
The trends of the expression of these growth factors in the supernatant were the same as they were in DPCs (Figures 3J–L). These results indicate that Twist1 is positively related to the production and secretion of growth factors regulated by Tcf4
Summary
Alopecia, represented by androgentic alopecia or alopecia areata, may last for a long time, or relapse. It causes great mental strain for patients (Williamson et al, 2001; Hunt and McHale, 2005). The treatment methods for hair loss include drug treatments to promote hair growth and hair transplantation, which require hair follicles from the patients themselves (Miao et al, 2014). The BMP signaling pathway and Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway are considered to be key signaling pathways in the activation of hair follicle stem cells (HFSCs) and regeneration of hair follicles (Wu et al, 2019). Β-catenin plays a role in transcription activation, transcribing the molecules that activate HFSCs and hair follicle regeneration (Li et al, 2013; Bejaoui et al, 2019)
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