Hair Therapy & Transplantation
Open Access

Abstract

Recent Updates on Development of Wnt/?-catenin Pathway Activators for Alopecia Treatment

Soung-Hoon Lee and Kang-Yell Choi*

Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway plays central roles in regulating homeostasis and regeneration in the hair follicular
stem cell niche. Thus, this pathway should be used as a therapeutic target for alopecia, but there are still limitations.
Valproic Acid (VPA), an activator of canonical Wnt signaling, induced hair re-growth and regeneration in mice, but
had limited clinical efficacy. This might be due to the induction of CXXC-type zinc finger protein 5 (CXXC5), a
negative regulatory factor of this regenerative pathway and hair follicle regeneration, by VPA. To overcome the
limitations caused by this negative regulatory factor, a competing peptide and small molecular compounds that
inhibit CXXC5 function were developed, and they were found to restore the canonical Wnt pathway and hair follicle
regeneration suppressed by CXXC5 in bald scalps. Collectively, the development of agents that inhibit CXXC5
function might provide an efficient and safe way to treat alopecia.

Published Date: 2023-06-02; Received Date: 2023-05-02