Author(s): Matamá, Teresa ; Costa, Cristiana ; Fernandes, Bruno ; Araújo, Rita ; Cruz, Célia F. ; Tortosa, Francisco ; Sheeba, Caroline J. ; Becker, Jörg D. ; Gomes, Andreia ; Cavaco-Paulo, Artur
Date: 2024
Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10362/172689
Origin: Repositório Institucional da UNL
Subject(s): Corneocytes; Cosmeceuticals; Drug repurposing; Melanocytes; Melanogenesis; Terminal differentiation; General; SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
Funding Information: This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2020 unit, and by LABBELS – Associate Laboratory in Biotechnology, Bioengineering and Microelectromechanical Systems, LA/P/0029/2020. Teresa Matamá would like to acknowledge her Post-doctoral scholarship funded by FCT ( SFRH/BPD/102153/2014 ). Cristiana Costa would like to acknowledge her PhD scholarship funded by FCT ( SFRH/BD/139522/2018 ). Bruno Fernandes would like to acknowledge his PhD scholarship funded by FCT (SFRH/BD/131824/2017). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed. Funding Information: The authors would like to acknowledge Prof. Raquel Andrade, Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences of the University of Algarve for her help and guidance regarding the in situ hybridization technique. The authors would like to acknowledge Doctor Francisco X. Real (Epithelial Carcinogenesis Group, Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncológicas, Spain) and Doctor Sofia Magina (Centro de Investigação Médica, Faculdade Medicina do Porto, Portugal) for their kind gifts, the SK-Mel-23 and SK-Mel-1 cell lines, respectively. The authors would like to acknowledge Marisa Azevedo, Senior Account Manager of Thermo Fisher Scientific, Portugal, and María Jesús García Ortiz, Senior Field Application Scientist of Thermo Fisher Scientific, Spain, for their incredible help and support of our qPCR experiments. The authors would like to acknowledge Prof Tim Beißbarth, Head of the Department Medical Bioinformatics, University Medical Center Göttingen, Germany, for his valuable information on web tools for functional enrichment analysis. The authors would like to acknowledge Phillippe by Almada, Termas de S. Pedro do Sul, and Castelbel for providing us with free samples of their dermo-cosmetic products to thank our volunteers. The authors are grateful to all the volunteers who kindly and patiently provided their hair follicles and participated in our clinical study with the intervention of cosmetics. This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2020 unit, and by LABBELS – Associate Laboratory in Biotechnology, Bioengineering and Microelectromechanical Systems, LA/P/0029/2020. Teresa Matamá would like to acknowledge her Post-doctoral scholarship funded by FCT (SFRH/BPD/102153/2014). Cristiana Costa would like to acknowledge her PhD scholarship funded by FCT (SFRH/BD/139522/2018). Bruno Fernandes would like to acknowledge his PhD scholarship funded by FCT (SFRH/BD/131824/2017). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed. Publisher Copyright: © 2024
Introduction: Natural hair curvature and colour are genetically determined human traits, that we intentionally change by applying thermal and chemical treatments to the fibre. Presently, those cosmetic methodologies act externally and their recurrent use is quite detrimental to hair fibre quality and even to our health. Objectives: This work represents a disruptive concept to modify natural hair colour and curvature. We aim to model the fibre phenotype as it is actively produced in the follicle through the topical delivery of specific bioactive molecules to the scalp. Methods: Transcriptome differences between curly and straight hairs were identified by microarray. In scalp samples, the most variable transcripts were mapped by in situ hybridization. Then, by using appropriate cellular models, we screened a chemical library of 1200 generic drugs, searching for molecules that could lead to changes in either fibre colour or curvature. A pilot-scale, single-centre, investigator-initiated, prospective, blind, bilateral (split-scalp) placebo-controlled clinical study with the intervention of cosmetics was conducted to obtain a proof of concept (RNEC n.92938). Results: We found 85 genes transcribed significantly different between curly and straight hair, not previously associated with this human trait. Next, we mapped some of the most variable genes to the inner root sheath of follicles, reinforcing the role of this cell layer in fibre shape moulding. From the drug library screening, we selected 3 and 4 hits as modulators of melanin synthesis and gene transcription, respectively, to be further tested in 33 volunteers. The intentional specific hair change occurred: 8 of 14 volunteers exhibited colour changes, and 16 of 19 volunteers presented curvature modifications, by the end of the study. Conclusion: The promising results obtained are the first step towards future cosmetics, complementary or alternative to current methodologies, taking hair styling to a new level: changing hair from the inside out.
