The incidental pore: CaV1.2 and stem cell activation in quiescent hair follicles
- 1Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA;
- 2Department of Biological Chemistry,
- 3Department of Dermatology,
- 4Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA
Abstract
The hair follicle undergoes a lifelong developmental cycle that depends on the integration between activating and inhibitory signals acting to regulate and guide the proliferation and differentiation of pluripotent epithelial stem cells. The effectors and mechanisms responsible for re-entry of quiescent telogen hair follicles into the hair-producing anagen stage in mature skin remain incompletely understood. In the June 1, 2013, issue of Genes & Development, Yucel and colleagues (pp. 1217–1222) reported the unexpected finding that CaV1.2, the pore-forming subunit in a well-characterized voltage-gated, L-type calcium channel, is expressed in hair follicle stem cells and contributes to anagen re-entry but does so in a calcium flux-independent fashion.
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↵5 Corresponding authors
E-mail coulombe{at}jhsph.edu
E-mail caterina{at}jhmi.edu
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Article is online at http://www.genesdev.org/cgi/doi/10.1101/gad.223172.113.
- Copyright © 2013 by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
