TY - JOUR
T1 - Olfactory receptor OR2AT4 regulates human hair growth
AU - Chéret, Jérémy
AU - Bertolini, Marta
AU - Ponce, Leslie
AU - Lehmann, Janin
AU - Tsai, Teresa
AU - Alam, Majid
AU - Hatt, Hanns
AU - Paus, Ralf
N1 - Funding Information:
The excellent technical assistance of Janine Jakobs and Arrows Biomedical GmbH for generating the microarray data are gratefully acknowledged. We thank Dr. Christopher Ward for his collegial assistance and advice with microarray data mining, our collaborating surgeons (namely, Dr. Hanieh Erdmann, and Dr. Wolfgang Funk) for their invaluable cooperation, and Giammaria Giuliani for continued encouragement, stimulating discussions, and support. This study was supported in part by a research grant from Giuliani Pharma S.p.A., Milano, to Monasterium Laboratory GmbH, Münster.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, The Author(s).
PY - 2018/12/1
Y1 - 2018/12/1
N2 - Olfactory receptors are expressed by different cell types throughout the body and regulate physiological cell functions beyond olfaction. In particular, the olfactory receptor OR2AT4 has been shown to stimulate keratinocyte proliferation in the skin. Here, we show that the epithelium of human hair follicles, particularly the outer root sheath, expresses OR2AT4, and that specific stimulation of OR2AT4 by a synthetic sandalwood odorant (Sandalore®) prolongs human hair growth ex vivo by decreasing apoptosis and increasing production of the anagen-prolonging growth factor IGF-1. In contrast, co-administration of the specific OR2AT4 antagonist Phenirat® and silencing of OR2AT4 inhibit hair growth. Together, our study identifies that human hair follicles can engage in olfactory receptor-dependent chemosensation and require OR2AT4-mediated signaling to sustain their growth, suggesting that olfactory receptors may serve as a target in hair loss therapy.
AB - Olfactory receptors are expressed by different cell types throughout the body and regulate physiological cell functions beyond olfaction. In particular, the olfactory receptor OR2AT4 has been shown to stimulate keratinocyte proliferation in the skin. Here, we show that the epithelium of human hair follicles, particularly the outer root sheath, expresses OR2AT4, and that specific stimulation of OR2AT4 by a synthetic sandalwood odorant (Sandalore®) prolongs human hair growth ex vivo by decreasing apoptosis and increasing production of the anagen-prolonging growth factor IGF-1. In contrast, co-administration of the specific OR2AT4 antagonist Phenirat® and silencing of OR2AT4 inhibit hair growth. Together, our study identifies that human hair follicles can engage in olfactory receptor-dependent chemosensation and require OR2AT4-mediated signaling to sustain their growth, suggesting that olfactory receptors may serve as a target in hair loss therapy.
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U2 - 10.1038/s41467-018-05973-0
DO - 10.1038/s41467-018-05973-0
M3 - Article
C2 - 30228264
AN - SCOPUS:85053532868
VL - 9
JO - Nature Communications
JF - Nature Communications
SN - 2041-1723
IS - 1
M1 - 3624
ER -