Dissecting the impact of chemotherapy on the human hair follicle: a pragmatic in vitro assay for studying the pathogenesis and potential management of hair follicle dystrophy.

ABSTRACT: Chemotherapy-induced alopecia represents one of the major unresolved problems of clinical oncology. The underlying molecular pathogenesis in humans is virtually unknown because of the lack of adequate research models. Therefore, we have explored whether microdissected, organ-cultured, human scalp hair follicles (HFs) in anagen VI can be exploited for dissecting and manipulating the impact of chemotherapy on human HFs. Here, we show that these organ-cultured HFs respond to a key cyclophosphamide metabolite, 4-hydroperoxycyclophosphamide (4-HC), in a manner that resembles chemotherapy-induced HF dystrophy as it occurs in vivo: namely, 4-HC induced melanin clumping and melanin incontinence, down-regulated keratinocyte proliferation, massively up-regulated apoptosis of hair matrix keratinocyte

SUBMITTER: Bodo E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1988866 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature