1381 Investigating the role of Mef2c in hair follicle cycling

The maintenance of organ homeostasis in our body is tightly regulated by stem cell niche signaling. In particular, the signal from cells dictates fate instructing them to differentiate or self-renew. Within hair follicle, crosstalk between follicle and mesenchyme-derived dermal papilla (DP) initiates morphogenesis controls regeneration cycles. However, exact mechanism which DP regulate remains elusive. Recently, we screened different 2D vs 3D cultures hair-inducing human non-hair-inducing fibroblast cells, where myocyte enhancer factor 2c (MEF2C) was identified as a gene interest induction. Single RNA sequencing past has also revealed elevated expression Mef2c mouse during cycling. To assess its role induction growth, have generated DP-specific conditional knockouts (cKO) using recently characterized genetic tool, LeprCre. Notably, after histological examination cycle, cKO follicles showed significant delay early stages catagen. Moreover, elucidate behind how contributes DP’s cycling, are analyzing transcriptome. Interestingly, preliminary findings reveal that SRY-box transcription 18 (Sox18), known binding partner Mef2c, upregulated mice. Currently, corroborating interaction Sox18 regulating growth reconstitution assays. Gaining knowledge on instructed will help develop novel therapeutic approaches for treatment loss disorders.