miR-24 affects hair follicle morphogenesis targeting Tcf-3

During embryonic development, hair follicles (HFs) develop from an epidermal-mesenchymal cross talk between the ectoderm progenitor layer and the underlying dermis. Epidermal stem cell activation represents a crucial point both for HF morphogenesis and for hair regeneration. miR-24 is an anti-proliferative microRNA (miRNA), which is induced during differentiation of several cellular systems including the epidermis. Here, we show that miR-24 is expressed in the HF and has a role in hair morphogenesis. We generated transgenic mice ectopically expressing miR-24 under the K5 promoter. The K5::miR-24 animals display a marked defect in HF morphogenesis, with thinning of hair coat and altered HF structure. Expression of miR-24 alters the normal process of hair keratinocyte differentiation, leading to altered expression of differentiation markers. MiR-24 directly represses the hair keratinocyte stemness regulator Tcf-3. These results support the notion that microRNAs, and among them miR-24, have an important role in postnatal epidermal homeostasis.