Transient activation of β-catenin signaling in cutaneous keratinocytes is sufficient to trigger the active growth phase of the hair cycle in mice

David Van Mater; Frank T. Kolligs; Andrzej A. Dlugosz; Eric R. Fearon

doi:10.1101/gad.1076103

Transient activation of β-catenin signaling in cutaneous keratinocytes is sufficient to trigger the active growth phase of the hair cycle in mice

¹Departments of Human Genetics, ²Internal Medicine, ³Dermatology, and ⁴Pathology, and the ⁵Cancer Center, University of Michigan School of Medicine, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA

Abstract

Wnts have key roles in many developmental processes, including hair follicle growth and differentiation. Stabilization of β-catenin is essential in the canonical Wnt signaling pathway. We developed transgenic mice expressing a regulated form of β-catenin in the skin. Chronic activation of β-catenin in resting (telogen) hair follicles resulted in changes consistent with induction of an exaggerated, aberrant growth phase (anagen). Transient activation of β-catenin produced a normal anagen. Our data lend strong support to the notion that a Wnt/β-catenin signal operating on hair follicle precursor cells serves as a crucial proximal signal for the telogen–anagen transition.

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Footnotes

↵6 Present address: Medizinische Klinik II, Klinikum Grosshadern, University of Munich, 81377 Munich, Germany.
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Corresponding authors.
Article and publication are at http://www.genesdev.org/cgi/doi/10.1101/gad.1076103.
- Received January 17, 2003.
- Accepted April 2, 2003.
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press