Journal article
Epidermal Wnt/β-catenin signaling regulates adipocyte differentiation via secretion of adipogenic factors
G Donati, V Proserpio, BM Lichtenberger, K Natsuga, R Sinclair, H Fujiwara, FM Watt
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America | Published : 2014
Abstract
It has long been recognized that the hair follicle growth cycle and oscillation in the thickness of the underlying adipocyte layer are synchronized. Although factors secreted by adipocytes are known to regulate the hair growth cycle, it is unclear whether the epidermis can regulate adipogenesis. We show that inhibition of epidermal Wnt/β-catenin signaling reduced adipocyte differentiation in developing and adult mouse dermis. Conversely, ectopic activation of epidermal Wnt signaling promoted adipocyte differentiation and hair growth. When the Wnt pathway was activated in the embryonic epidermis, there was a dramatic and premature increase in adipocytes in the absence of hair follicle formati..
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Awarded by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
Funding Acknowledgements
We acknowledge the core services of the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Research Institute, where the project was initiated, and the assistance of Charlotte Collins, Marta Lesko, Maria Mastrogiannaki, and Kai Kretzschmar, who generously provided mice/sections for research. We also thank Asako Nakagawa for technical assistance. G. D. thanks Samuel Woodhouse for daily discussions about this project. This work was supported by grants to F. M. W. from Cancer Research UK, the European Union, the Medical Research Council, and the Wellcome Trust and to H. F. from RIKEN. B. M. L. was the recipient of a Federation of European Biochemical Societies long-term fellowship. We gratefully acknowledge financial support, in the form of access to the flow facility, from the Department of Health via the National Institute for Health Research comprehensive Biomedical Research Centre award to Guy's & St Thomas' National Health Service Foundation Trust in partnership with King's College London and King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.