Extracellular Signal-Regulated Kinase Mediates Ebastine-Induced Human Follicle Dermal Papilla Cell Proliferation

Ebastine is a second-generation histamine H1 receptor antagonist that is used to attenuate allergic inflammation. Ebastine has also shown to affect hair loss; however, the immunoregulatory effect of ebastine cannot completely exclude the possibility of spontaneous hair regrowth in ebastine-treated mice. In this study, we examined the effects of ebastine on the growth of human follicle dermal papilla cells (HFDPC) using a WST-1 cell proliferation assay and a bromodeoxyuridine incorporation assay. Ebastine was shown to significantly increase the proliferation of HFDPC. The expression levels of cell-cycle regulatory proteins and an antiapoptotic protein were increased in ebastine-treated HFDPC. Furthermore, elevated expression levels of phospho-AKT and phospho-p44/42 extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) were observed in ebastine-treated HFDPC. Ebastine-mediated HFDPC growth was completely reversed by blocking ERK kinase. The results from our present study suggest that the regulation of HFDPC proliferation by ebastine might be directly involved in hair regrowth through the ERK signaling pathway.