生物谷报道：日前，一个国际科学研究组在德国波恩大学成功发现了脱发发病的关键因素。经过6年的研究他们成功地识别出一种罕见的遗传类型单一性少毛症的真凶。科学家首次发现一种在头发生长中起重要作用的受体，他们希望通过这项研究成果产生新的治疗方法，用来解决多方面的脱发问题。
该项目负责人波恩大学人类遗传学会Regina Betz博士在总结研究结果时说：“尽管单一性少毛症是非常罕见的，但它有可能是证明我们寻找到头发生长机制的关键。”无论男性和女性都会受到这种遗传疾病影响，受害者一般会在儿童时期变成秃顶，脱发的过程会随着年龄的增加而加快，尤其是头皮周围部分。
科学家们在遗传缺陷研究项目中成功地检验出了少毛症的发病原因。遗传缺陷阻止了头发毛囊细胞表面的受体组织正常形成。波恩大学生命与大脑研究中心的遗传医学教授Markus博士解释说：“有缺陷的受体组织属于被称为G蛋白偶联受体一类。这是一个好消息，因为它们特别适合药物疗法。”研究人员可以识别出一种生长在头发毛囊受体上的内生性信息体，这为发展一种新的有效疗法创造了机会。波恩药理学和毒物学研究所Ivar博士说：“我们现在可以有选择的寻找一种相关的物质用来治疗脱发。”令人兴奋的是，这种药可能会对遭受不同类型脱发的患者有很大的益处。（科技日报）
生物谷推荐原始出处：
Nature Genetics 40, 329 - 334 (2008)
Published online: 24 February 2008 | doi:10.1038/ng.84
G protein–coupled receptor P2Y5 and its ligand LPA are involved in maintenance of human hair growth
Sandra M Pasternack1, Ivar von Kügelgen2, Khalid Al Aboud3, Young-Ae Lee4,5, Franz Rüschendorf5, Katrin Voss6, Axel M Hillmer7, Gerhard J Molderings2, Thomas Franz8, Alfredo Ramirez9,10,11, Peter Nürnberg11,12, Markus M Nöthen1,7 & Regina C Betz1
Abstract
Hypotrichosis simplex is a group of nonsyndromic human alopecias. We mapped an autosomal recessive form of this disorder to chromosome 13q14.11–13q21.33, and identified homozygous truncating mutations in P2RY5, which encodes an orphan G protein–coupled receptor. Furthermore, we identified oleoyl-L--lysophosphatidic acid (LPA), a bioactive lipid, as a ligand for P2Y5 in reporter gene and radioligand binding experiments. Homology and studies of signaling transduction pathways suggest that P2Y5 is a member of a subgroup of LPA receptors, which also includes LPA4 and LPA5. Our study is the first to implicate a G protein–coupled receptor as essential for and specific to the maintenance of human hair growth. This finding may provide opportunities for new therapeutic approaches to the treatment of hair loss in humans.
Institute of Human Genetics, University of Bonn, Bonn 53111, Germany.
Department of Pharmacology, University of Bonn, Bonn 53113, Germany.
Department of Dermatology, King Faisal Hospital, Makkah 5592, Saudi Arabia.
Department of Pediatric Pneumology and Immunology, Charité, Humboldt-University Berlin 13353, Berlin, Germany.
Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, Berlin 13092, Germany.
Department of Human Genetics, University of Würzburg, Würzburg 97074, Germany.
Department of Genomics, Life and Brain Center, University of Bonn, Bonn 53127, Germany.
Department of Anatomy, University of Bonn, Bonn 53115, Germany.
Institute for Genetics, University of Cologne, Cologne 50674, Germany.
Institute of Human Genetics, University of Cologne, Cologne 50931, Germany.
Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne 50931, Germany.
Cologne Center for Genomics, University of Cologne, Cologne 50674, Germany.
Correspondence to: Regina C Betz1 e-mail: regina.betz@uni-bonn.de
