Our work during the first award period was focused on defining the functions of HR in the skin and hair follicle. We have been working to understand what controls hairless expression and have shown that hr is regulated by thyroid hormone as well as VDR in keratinocytes. We localized HR is to the nucleus and identified a new nuclear localization signal in the N-terminal region. We also demonstrated that Hr is tightly associated with the nuclear matrix and forms nuclear speckles in association with the histone deacetylase, HDAC3. We showed that HR and VDR are part of the same complex in keratinocytes. In order place a hairless into a transcriptional regulatory pathway, we performed a microarray analysis of rh/rh versus wild-type mouse epidermis to identify genes that are regulated by hairless. Unexpectedly, we uncovered several genes involved in cell cycle regulation and apoptosis, and in particular, numerous genes that are known downstream targets of NFkB signaling. These novel findings form the basis of our experiments planned for the next five years. We will test the hypothesis that hairless is a key regulator of the balance between cell proliferation and differentiation in the epidermis and hair follicle. We will address this hypothesis in three Specific Aims.
Specific Aim 1 : Transcriptional Regulation of Hairless by the TNF1/NFkB signaling pathway;
Specific Aim 2 : Regulation of Downstream Pathways by Hairless;
and Specific Aim 3 : Hairless functions as an inhibitor of proliferation in epithelial cells in vivo. The crucial role of these signaling pathways in epidermal homeostasis and disease places hairless at the center of many convergent areas of skin research. Advances generated by this work could lead to chemopreventive strategies and innovative treatment options for dermatological diseases.

Public Health Relevance

Our work during the first five years of the grant was focused on defining the functions of the hairless gene in the skin and hair follicle. We have found that hairless is a key regulator of epidermal growth, and that it cross-talks with some key signaling pathways in the skin. In the next five years, we will ask how hairless regulates cell growth and proliferation in the epidermis, both in the normal setting, and in certain skin diseases. These findings may prove useful for gaining understanding a number of different skin disorders where uncontrolled growth is a characteristic of the disease.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01AR047338-09
Application #
8097432
Study Section
Arthritis, Connective Tissue and Skin Study Section (ACTS)
Program Officer
Baker, Carl
Project Start
2000-12-01
Project End
2013-06-30
Budget Start
2011-07-01
Budget End
2012-06-30
Support Year
9
Fiscal Year
2011
Total Cost
$336,333
Indirect Cost
Name
Columbia University (N.Y.)
Department
Dermatology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
621889815
City
New York
State
NY
Country
United States
Zip Code
10032
Liu, Liang; Kim, Hyunmi; Casta, Alex et al. (2014) Hairless is a histone H3K9 demethylase. FASEB J 28:1534-42
Luke, Courtney T; Casta, Alexandre; Kim, Hyunmi et al. (2013) Hairless and the polyamine putrescine form a negative regulatory loop in the epidermis. Exp Dermatol 22:644-9
Casta, Alexandre; Kim, Hyunmi; Luke, Courtney T et al. (2012) Hairless and NF?B form a positive feedback loop after UVB and TNF? stimulation. Photochem Photobiol 88:1173-83
Kim, Hyunmi; Casta, Alexandre; Tang, Xiuwei et al. (2012) Loss of hairless confers susceptibility to UVB-induced tumorigenesis via disruption of NF-kappaB signaling. PLoS One 7:e39691
Jahoda, Colin A B; Christiano, Angela M (2011) Niche crosstalk: intercellular signals at the hair follicle. Cell 146:678-81
Engelhard, Andrew; Bauer, Robert C; Casta, Alexandre et al. (2008) Ligand-independent regulation of the hairless promoter by vitamin D receptor. Photochem Photobiol 84:515-21
Kraemer, Liv; Wajid, Muhammad; Shimomura, Yutaka et al. (2008) Mutations in the hairless gene underlie APL in three families of Pakistani origin. J Dermatol Sci 50:25-30
Michailidis, Eleni; Theos, Amy; Zlotogorski, Abraham et al. (2007) Atrichia with papular lesions resulting from novel compound heterozygous mutations in the human hairless gene. Pediatr Dermatol 24:E79-82
Kim, Hyunmi; Wajid, Muhammad; Kraemer, Liv et al. (2007) Nonsense mutations in the hairless gene underlie APL in five families of Pakistani origin. J Dermatol Sci 48:207-11
Ashoor, G; Masse, M; Garcia Luciano, L M et al. (2006) A novel mutation in the 12(R)-lipoxygenase (ALOX12B) gene underlies nonbullous congenital ichthyosiform erythroderma. Br J Dermatol 155:198-200

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