In rodents, but not in humans, hair follicles can regenerate during wound healing. This study showed that fibroblast growth factor 9 (FGF9) is responsible for the regeneration of hair follicles after skin wounding in mice. FGF9 produced by γδ T cells activates WNT in wound fibroblasts, which then express FGF9; this further amplifies WNT activity in the wound dermis during skin regeneration. The paucity of dermal γδ T cells in humans could explain their inability to regenerate hair. Overexpression of FGF9 increased the number of neogenic hair follicles in mice, which suggests that targeting FGF9 might induce hair follicle regeneration in humans.
References
Gay, D. et al. Fgf9 from dermal γδ T cells induces hair follicle neogenesis after wounding. Nature Med. 19, 916–923 (2013)
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Charlotte, H. Boosting hair follicle regeneration. Nat Rev Drug Discov 12, 580 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrd4095
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrd4095
