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Understanding how blood vessel formation controls hair growth.

Jerry Shapiro, MD, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC

Angiogenesis is the process by which new blood vessels are formed in the body. The development of new blood vessels is activated and controlled by growth factors - signaling chemicals produced by cells in the body. Hair follicle growth requires a rich nutrient supply from the blood. They ensure maintenance of their nutrient supply by controlling angiogenesis in the skin around them through the production of growth factors that encourage the skin to form new blood vessels. Because angiogenesis is so important for hair follicle growth, anything that affects blood vessel formation can in turn influence the growth of hair. In addition, hair follicles can contribute to skin wound healing by providing cells and promoting new blood vessel formation. There is also some recent evidence that the angiogenesis promoting properties of hair follicles can be “hijacked” by adjacent skin cancers and encourage the hair follicles to produce blood vessels to supply the tumors. It is known that hair follicles produce the angiogenesis promoter vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), but in preliminary studies we have recently found evidence that hair follicles may produce other angiogenesis promoting factors; namely Angiopoietin 1 (Ang1) and placental growth factor (PIGF). We intend to investigate the expression of these growth factors and their receptors to determine how much impact they have on hair growth. In the future we would also investigate the role of these factors in skin cancer growth. Promoting angiogenesis may be one way to promote hair growth while inhibiting angiogenesis may be a way to block skin cancer growth.

(C2006)