Androgen site-specifically affects human hair growth after puberty through androgen receptors in the dermal papilla, which transactivate target genes acting in conjunction with co-activators. To examine the regulation of androgen sensitivity in hair follicles, we focused on androgen receptor co-activator Hic-5/ARA55. Its interaction with transfected androgen receptor in beard dermal papilla cells was confirmed with mammalian two-hybrid assays. The semiquantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction showed that Hic-5/ARA55 mRNA expression was high in dermal papilla cells from the beard and bald frontal scalp but low in cells from the occipital scalp. To determine whether Hic-5/ARA55 mRNA level correlates with its endogenous activity, we studied the effect of dominant negative Hic-5/ARA55 on transfected androgen receptor transactivation induced by R1881 using mouse mammary tumor virus-luciferase assays. We found that it suppressed the transactivation by 64.5 and 71.4% in dermal papilla cells from the beard and bald frontal scalp, respectively, whereas it showed no significant effect in cells from the occipital scalp. Our findings suggest that Hic-5/ARA55 is a molecular regulator for androgen sensitivity in human hair follicles.
