Human scalp hair follicles can ‘taste’: chemosensory signalling via the bitter taste receptor TAS2R4 inhibits hair growth <i>ex vivo</i>
Our study found that human scalp HFs engage in chemosensation via bitter TRs to regulate their growth, matrix keratinocyte proliferation, growth factor production and overall gene expression. Specifically, we demonstrated that a simple tastant like Reb A can promote the anagen-catagen switch of human scalp HFs and their production of TGF-β2, and modulate HF keratinocyte proliferation and intrafollicular gene transcription in a TAS2R4-dependent manner. This expands our understanding of bitter TR-mediated chemosensation in human skin and suggests a novel, drug-free strategy to inhibiting unwanted hair growth (e.g. in hirsutism and hypertrichosis) by targeting TAS2R4 (e.g. via topical Reb A).
Authors
- Markus Fehrholz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2183-2415)
- R. Stone (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7489-2123)
- Thomas Rouillé (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3285-0742)
- Alan J. Bauman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6662-1270)
- Jérémy Chéret (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1901-0551)
- Jose Rodríguez-Feliz
- Jennifer Gherardini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4811-8580)
- Ralf Paus (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3492-9358)
- Wolfgang Funk (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4480-1259)
- Tamás Bı́ró (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3770-6221)
Institutions
- University of Miami (US)
- Universidad Nacional Experimental Simón Rodríguez (VE)
- Clinical Research Center for Hair and Skin Science (DE)
- Aesthetic Surgery Center (US)
- Monasterium Laboratory Skin & Hair Research Solutions (Germany) (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- British Journal of Dermatology
- Published
- 2025-03-18
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1093/bjd/ljaf060
- Citations
- 8
- Primary Topic
- Biochemical Analysis and Sensing Techniques
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 8.96