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(American Journal of Pathology. 2000;156:1395-1405.)
© 2000 American Society for Investigative Pathology

Regular Articles

Overexpression of Bcl-2 Protects from Ultraviolet B-Induced Apoptosis but Promotes Hair Follicle Regression and Chemotherapy-Induced Alopecia

Sven Müller-Röver^*, Heidemarie Rossiter^*, Ralf Paus, Bori Handjiski^§, Eva M. J. Peters^§, Jo-Ellen Murphy^*, Lars Mecklenburg and Thomas S. Kupper^*

From the Harvard Skin Disease Research Center,^*
Brigham and Womens Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts; the Centre for Cutaneous Research,
Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London, London, England; the Department of Dermatology,
University Hospital Eppendorf, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany; and the Department of Dermatology,^§
Charité Hospital, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany

Hair follicle (HF) growth and regression is an exquisitely regulated process of cell proliferation followed by massive cell death and is accompanied by cyclical expression of the apoptosis regulatory gene pair, Bcl-2 and Bax. To further investigate the role of Bcl-2 expression in the control of hair growth and keratinocyte apoptosis, we have used transgenic mice that overexpress human Bcl-2 in basal epidermis and in the outer root sheath under the control of the human keratin-14 promoter (K14/Bcl-2). When irradiated with ultraviolet B (UVB) light, K14/Bcl-2 mice developed about 5–10-fold fewer sunburn cells (ie, apoptotic keratinocytes) in the basal layer of the epidermis, compared to wild-type mice, whereas cultures of primary keratinocytes from transgenic mice were completely resistant to UVB-induced histone formation, at doses that readily induced histone release from wild-type cells. K14/Bcl-2 mice show no alteration of neonatal hair follicle morphogenesis or of the onset of the first wave of HF regression (catagen). However, compared to wild-type controls, K14/Bcl-2 mice subsequently displayed a significant acceleration of spontaneous catagen progression. During chemotherapy-induced alopecia, follicular dystrophy was promoted in K14/Bcl-2 mice. Thus, although K14-driven overexpression of Bcl-2 protected murine epidermal keratinocytes from UVB-induced apoptosis, it surprisingly promoted catagen- and chemotherapy-associated keratinocyte apoptosis.

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