HairLess and Microbiome
During human evolution, the gradual loss of body hair was accompanied by significant changes in the skin microecology, but the specific details of these changes remain unclear. Androgenetic alopecia (AGA) is the most common type of hair loss disorder in humans. During the progression of AGA, the scalp microbiota undergoes marked alterations, which may exacerbate hair loss. We performed 16S rRNA gene sequencing on 120 scalp samples and shotgun metagenomic sequencing on 628 scalp samples, identifying a significant association between scalp microbiota and hair follicle health status. The collected AGA scalp samples include: frontal and occipital scalp of AGA patients; frontal and occipital scalp of healthy volunteers; scalp samples from AGA patients with mild, moderate, and severe hair loss; scalp samples from AGA patients before and after treatment (both responders and non-responders); and baseline scalp samples from AGA patients with three-year follow-up for disease progression.