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Apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1 (ASK1) is a member of the mitogen-activated protein 3-kinase family that activates both c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase and p38 pathways in response to inflammatory cytokines and physicochemical stress. We report that ASK1 deficiency in mice results in dramatic retardation of wounding-induced hair regrowth in skin. Oligonucleotide microarray analysis revealed that expression of several chemotactic and activating factors for macrophages, as well as several macrophage-specific marker genes, was reduced in the skin wound area of ASK1-deficient mice. Intracutaneous transplantation of cytokine-activated bone marrow-derived macrophages strongly induced hair growth in both wild-type and ASK1-deficient mice. These findings indicate that ASK1 is required for wounding-induced infiltration and activation of macrophages, which play central roles in inflammation-dependent hair regrowth in skin.

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Abbreviations used in this paper: ASK1, apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1; BMDM, bone marrow-derived macrophage; DC, dendritic cell; ERK, extracellular signal-regulated kinase; IL, interleukin; MCP-1, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1; MEF, mouse embryonic fi broblast; MHC, major histocompatability complex; MIP-1α, macrophage infl ammatory protein-1α; MSP, macrophagestimulating factor; WT, wild-type.The online version of this article contains supplemental material.

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