Basic Study
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World J Stem Cells. Jul 26, 2022; 14(7): 527-538
Published online Jul 26, 2022. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v14.i7.527
Application of extracellular vesicles from mesenchymal stem cells promotes hair growth by regulating human dermal cells and follicles
Ramya Lakshmi Rajendran, Prakash Gangadaran, Mi Hee Kwack, Ji Min Oh, Chae Moon Hong, Young Kwan Sung, Jaetae Lee, Byeong-Cheol Ahn
Ramya Lakshmi Rajendran, Prakash Gangadaran, Ji Min Oh, Chae Moon Hong, Jaetae Lee, Byeong-Cheol Ahn, Department of Nuclear Medicine, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41944, South Korea
Prakash Gangadaran, Mi Hee Kwack, Young Kwan Sung, Byeong-Cheol Ahn, BK21 FOUR KNU Convergence Educational Program of Biomedical Sciences for Creative Future Talents, Department of Biomedical Sciences, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41944, South Korea
Mi Hee Kwack, Young Kwan Sung, Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41944, South Korea
Chae Moon Hong, Jaetae Lee, Byeong-Cheol Ahn, Department of Nuclear Medicine, Kyungpook National University Hospital, Daegu 41944, South Korea
Author contributions: Rajendran RL and Gangadaran P contributed equally to this study; Rajendran RL, Gangadaran P and Ahn BC contributed to the conception and design of the study, data interpretation, and funding acquisition; Rajendran RL, Gangadaran P, Kwack MH, Oh JM and Hong CM contributed to the methodology, data acquisition, and analysis; Rajendran RL and Gangadaran P wrote the original draft of the article; Kwack MH, Oh JM, Hong CM, Sung YK and Lee J drafted, reviewed and edited the manuscript, and contributed to project administration; The study was led by Ahn BC, and all of the authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), Funded by the Ministry of Education, No. NRF-2019R1I1A1A01061296 and No. NRF-2021R1I1A1A01040732; Korea Health Technology R & D Project through the Korea Health Industry Development Institute, Funded By the Ministry of Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea, No. HI15C0001.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of Kyungpook National University Hospital, No. KNU-2018-0161 and conducted in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki.
Informed consent statement: All study participants or their legal guardian provided informed written consent about personal and medical data collection prior to study enrolment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
ARRIVE guidelines statement: The authors have read the ARRIVE guidelines, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the ARRIVE guidelines.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Byeong-Cheol Ahn, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Nuclear Medicine, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, No. 680 Gukchaebosangro, Junggu, Daegu 41944, South Korea. abc2000@knu.ac.kr
Received: March 4, 2022
Peer-review started: March 4, 2022
First decision: April 19, 2022
Revised: May 19, 2022
Accepted: June 24, 2022
Article in press: June 24, 2022
Published online: July 26, 2022
Processing time: 144 Days and 4.2 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Hair loss is one of the most common disorders in both sexes. Despite the availability of several treatment options, no definitive treatment method is currently available. Application of extracellular vesicles (EVs) has been suggested as a possible new treatment modality for hair loss.

Research motivation

Although cell-derived EV treatments have shown reasonable efficacy in hair loss studies, the molecular mechanisms and therapeutic effects are still relatively unknown.

Research objectives

We examined the effects of human mesenchymal stem cell-derived EVs (hMSC-EVs) on human dermal papillae (DP), outer root sheath (ORS) cells, and hair follicles (HF).

Research methods

Human DP cells, ORS cells, and HFs were treated with various amounts of hMSC-EVs to investigate the effect of hMSC-EVs on human cells in vitro and ex vivo.

Research results

The Wnt3a-containing hMSC-EVs treatment increased the proliferation of DP cells and the Wnt/β-catenin signaling cascade and activated transcription related to hair growth. Similarly, hMSC-EV treatment increased the proliferation, migration, and keratin differentiation of ORS cells. The ex vivo treatment with hMSC-EVs increased human HF shaft elongation.

Research conclusions

Application of hMSC-EVs may be a new potential strategy for hair loss treatment.

Research perspectives

Our findings demonstrate the effects of hMSC-EVs on hair cells and HFs.