Uncovering Novel Landscape and Functional MicroRNA Targets for Androgenetic Alopecia

May 2026 in “ The FASEB Journal ”

Jian Chen, Cheng Zheng, Shizhao Liu, Ruifang Lu, Weiwen Liu, Kaitao Li, Damao Dai, Shulian Wu, Qing Guan, Zhexiang Fan, Qian Qu, Yong Miao

androgenetic alopecia microRNAs miRNAs mRNA sequencing miRNA-mRNA regulatory networks hair follicle stem cell dysfunction miR-146b-5p hair growth inflammatory microenvironment AGA hair loss balding

TLDR miR-146b-5p may help treat hair loss by promoting hair growth and reducing inflammation.

This study investigates the role of microRNAs (miRNAs) in androgenetic alopecia (AGA) by integrating miRNA data with existing mRNA sequencing profiles to construct miRNA-mRNA regulatory networks. The research highlights the downregulation of predicted target genes related to structure modulation, suggesting that microenvironment remodeling may contribute to hair follicle stem cell dysfunction in AGA. An AGA model using organ-cultured balding hair follicles was established to explore miRNA roles, revealing that miR-146b-5p could promote hair growth and improve the inflammatory microenvironment in AGA hair follicles. This miRNA presents a promising target for AGA treatment.

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