South Korea: Sonic Hedgehog protein promotes hair-related gene expression

Hair growth-promoting effect of recombinant human sonic hedgehog proteins

Shin-Hye Yu, Yujin Kim, Narae Jung, Jung Wook Hwang, Nayoung Kim, Jong-Cheon Ha, Mi Jin Kim, Youngjun Lee, Yong-Soo Choi, Kyuboem Han and Chun-Hyung Kim | Paean Biotechnology, Inc., 160 Techno-2-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34028, South Korea, and Department of Biotechnology, CHA University, Seongnam 13488, South Korea | 2019 |Biomedical Dermatology;3;7

Sonic hedgehog proteins (Shh) play a critical role in hair follicle development by regulation of mesenchymal and epithelial cells present in hair follicles. Therefore, it is thought to be a good therapeutic candidate for the prevention of hair loss as well as promotion of hair growth. To investigate the potential use of Shh in hair loss treatments, the study investigated whether the treatment of Shh proteins affects the Shh-responsive genes in Human hair follicle dermal papilla (hDP) cells by testing the expression for components and target genes of the hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway. This was done by quantitative real-time PCR using Mic Real-Time PCR. It was found that Shh proteins were successfully overexpressed in E.coli by making silent mutations in 12 amino acids from N-terminus of Shh. Administration of purified Shh proteins to hDP cells induced hair-related gene expression by stimulating both the Shh signaling pathway and Wnt/ β-catenin pathway in DP cells, suggesting that recombinant Shh proteins can be a potential hair-promoting agent.