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Yo-yoing stem cells defy dogma to maintain hair colour

The observation that melanocyte stem cells migrate up and down the hair follicle, differentiating into melanocytes and then returning to a stem-cell identity, calls into question long-held assumptions about adult stem cells.
  1. Carlos Galvan

    1. Carlos Galvan is in the Department of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology, the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Molecular Biology Institute, the Division of Dermatology, David Geffen School of Medicine, and the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA.

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  2. William E. Lowry

    1. William E. Lowry is in the Department of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology, the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Molecular Biology Institute, the Division of Dermatology, David Geffen School of Medicine, and the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA.

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The baseball player Yogi Berra once said, “You can observe a lot by watching.” Writing in Nature, Sun et al.1 report a study that takes this maxim to an extreme. The authors observed single melanocyte stem cells (McSCs) in individual hair follicles over two years. They discovered that McSCs have a unique lifestyle for an adult stem cell, yo-yoing up and down the hair follicle. Their work could explain why hair greying is one of the earliest signs of ageing.

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Nature 616, 666-667 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-00918-0

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Competing Interests

W.E.L. is president of and holds equity in Pelage Pharmaceuticals, a company devoted to developing therapies for alopecia (hair loss).

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