Insights into the regulation of MAP3K1 in hair follicle stem cells by transcriptome analysis

MAP3K1 is a significant member of the MAPK family, and its expressed MEKK1 protein has a wide range of biological activities and is an essential node in the MAPK signaling pathway. A significant number of studies have revealed that MAP3K1 plays a complicated function in the control of cell proliferation, apoptosis, invasion and movement, participates in the regulation of the immune system, and plays an important role in wound healing, tumorigenesis and other processes. In this study, we looked at the involvement of MAP3K1 in the control of hair follicle stem cells (HFSCs). Overexpression of MAP3K1 significantly promoted the proliferation of HFSCs by inhibiting apoptosis and promoting the transition from S phase to G2 phase. The transcriptome identified 189 (MAP3K1_OE) and 414 (MAP3K1_sh) differential genes. The two pathways with the most significant enrichment of differentially expressed genes were the IL-17 signaling pathway and TNF signaling pathway, and the significantly enriched terms in the GO enrichment analysis involved regulation of response of external stimulus, inflammatory and cytokine. Indicate that MAP3K1 can function as a promoting factor in HFSCs through the induction of cell cycle transition from S phase to G2 phase can inhibition apoptosis by mediating crosstalk among several pathways and cytokines.HIGHLIGHTSAbnormal MAP3K1 expression in hair follicle stem cells (HFSCs) can impair HFSC proliferation and apoptosis.MAP3K1 controls hair follicle stem cell proliferation via modulating cell apoptosis and the ratio of cells in S phase/G2 phase.The differential genes shared by MAP3K1_sh and MAP3K1_OE are enriched in GO terms such as inflammation, adipocyte differentiation, acute inflammation, and so on.