Paracrine Secreted Frizzled-Related Protein 4 Inhibits Melanocytes Differentiation in Hair Follicle.
Wnt signaling plays crucial role in regulating melanocyte stem cells/melanocyte differentiation in the hair follicle. However, how the Wnt signaling is balanced to be overactivated to control follicular melanocytes behavior remains unknown. Here, by using immunofluorescence staining, we showed that secreted frizzled-related protein 4 (sFRP4) is preferentially expressed in the skin epidermal cells rather than in melanocytes. By overexpression of sFRP4 in skin cells in vivo and in vitro, we found that sFRP4 attenuates activation of Wnt signaling, resulting in decrease of melanocytes differentiation in the regenerating hair follicle. Our findings unveiled a new regulator that involves modulating melanocytes differentiation through a paracrine mechanism in hair follicle, supplying a hope for potential therapeutic application to treat skin pigmentation disorders.
Department of Cell Biology, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, China.
Haiying
H
Guo
"111" Project Laboratory of Biomechanics and Tissue Repair and Key Laboratory of Biorheological Science and Technology of Ministry of Education, College of Bioengineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China.
Mingxing
M
Lei
Department of Cell Biology, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, China.
Yuhong
Y
Li
Department of Cell Biology, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, China.
Yingxin
Y
Liu
Department of Cell Biology, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, China.
Yinhong
Y
Tang
Department of Cell Biology, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, China.
Yizhan
Y
Xing
Department of Cell Biology, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, China.
Fang
F
Deng
Department of Cell Biology, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, China; Chongqing Stem Cell Therapy Engineering Technical Center, Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400014, China.
Ke
0000-0001-6271-8294
K
Yang