Center for Cutaneous Research, St Bartholomew's and the Royal London School of Medicine and Dentistry, London, U.K.

Correspondence: Dr Michael P. Philpott, Center for Cutaneous Research, St Bartholomew's and the Royal London School of Medicine and Dentistry, 2 Newark Street, London, E1 2AT, U.K. Email: j.j.bull@mds.qmw.ac.uk

Received 9 March 2000; Revised 19 September 2000; Accepted 18 December 2000.

Abstract

The mammalian hair follicle is a highly dynamic skin appendage that undergoes repeated cycles of growth and regression, involving closely co-ordinated regulation of cell proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis. The Myc superfamily of transcription factors have been strongly implicated in the regulation of these processes in many tissues. Using immunohistochemistry, we have investigated the patterns of c-Myc, N-Myc, Max, and Mad1–4 expression at different stages of the human hair growth cycle. N-Myc, Max, Mad1, and Mad3 immunoreactivity was detected in the epidermis and the epithelium of both anagen and telogen hair follicles. Three distinct patterns of hair follicle c-Myc immunoreactivity were observed. In the infundibulum, c-Myc staining was predominantly in the basal layers, with little detectable immunoreactivity in the terminally differentiating suprabasal layers; this pattern was similar to that seen in the epidermis. In contrast, c-Myc expression in the follicle bulb was found both in the proliferating germinative epithelial cells and in the terminally differentiating matrix cells that give rise to the hair fiber. Finally, intense c-Myc immunoreactivity was detected in the bulge region of the outer root sheath. Using the C8/144B antibody as a bulge marker, we confirmed that c-Myc immunoreactivity in the outer root sheath correlates with the putative hair follicle stem cell compartment. c-Myc expression in the bulge was independent of the hair growth cycle stage. Our data suggest that Myc superfamily members serve different functions in separate epithelial compartments of the hair follicle and may play an important role in determining cell fate within the putative stem cell compartment.