new study

[waynakyo]

This is taken from science daily. It is on a recently published paper.
Question: when they bring these new studies about the importance of some proteins, are these the kind of proteins that one can take /has control over ?


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Protein N-WASP Helps Hair Growth

ScienceDaily (Jan. 11, 2010) — Various human skin disorders are associated with aberrant regulation of the cytoskeleton (the scaffolding that supports the cell). This is because many physiological processes in the skin, including wound healing and hair follicle cycling, involve cytoskeleton reorganization regulated by the proteins Cdc42 and Rac1.


A team of researchers, led by Scott Snapper, at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, has now determined that the protein N-WASP, which acts downstream of Cdc42 to regulate cytoskeleton reorganization, has a key role in skin function and hair follicle cycling by generating and analyzing mice lacking N-WASP in skin.

Analysis of the mice indicated that N-WASP is critical for cells of the outer layer of the skin to proliferate and for hair growth but is dispensable for wound healing. The role of N-WASP in hair growth was found to be a result of its key role in hair follicle cycling and in the maintenance and differentiation of hair follicle progenitor cells. As further analysis indicated that N-WASP regulated the function of the gene regulatory protein ?-catenin in cells of the outer layer of the skin from hair follicles, the authors suggest that N-WASP promotes ?-catenin-dependent gene expression, thereby supporting the differentiation of hair follicle progenitor cells.
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Adapted from materials provided by Journal of Clinical Investigation, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Journal Reference:

1. . Neural Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein modulates Wnt signaling and is required for hair follicle cycling in mice. Journal of Clinical Investigation, January 11, 2010

 

[dpdr]

Interesting

 

[vauxall]

For those who don't know how to use the f**** Google:

J Clin Invest. 2010 Feb 1;120(2):446-56. doi: 10.1172/JCI36478. Epub 2010 Jan 11.

Neural Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein modulates Wnt signaling and is required for hair follicle cycling in mice.
Lyubimova A, Garber JJ, Upadhyay G, Sharov A, Anastasoaie F, Yajnik V, Cotsarelis G, Dotto GP, Botchkarev V, Snapper SB.

Gastrointestinal Unit and Center for Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, USA.

The Rho family GTPases Cdc42 and Rac1 are critical regulators of the actin cytoskeleton and are essential for skin and hair function. Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome family proteins act downstream of these GTPases, controlling actin assembly and cytoskeletal reorganization, but their role in epithelial cells has not been characterized in vivo. Here, we used a conditional knockout approach to assess the role of neural Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein (N-WASP), the ubiquitously expressed Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome-like (WASL) protein, in mouse skin. We found that N-WASP deficiency in mouse skin led to severe alopecia, epidermal hyperproliferation, and ulceration, without obvious effects on epidermal differentiation and wound healing. Further analysis revealed that the observed alopecia was likely the result of a progressive and ultimately nearly complete block in hair follicle (HF) cycling by 5 months of age. N-WASP deficiency also led to abnormal proliferation of skin progenitor cells, resulting in their depletion over time. Furthermore, N-WASP deficiency in vitro and in vivo correlated with decreased GSK-3beta phosphorylation, decreased nuclear localization of beta-catenin in follicular keratinocytes, and decreased Wnt-dependent transcription. Our results indicate a critical role for N-WASP in skin function and HF cycling and identify a link between N-WASP and Wnt signaling. We therefore propose that N-WASP acts as a positive regulator of beta-catenin-dependent transcription, modulating differentiation of HF progenitor cells.

PMID: 20071778 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]