Patent ID: 7468246

Claim:
A method for the identification and/or production of an inhibitor of hair production, which method comprises the steps of: (a) contacting a cell comprising at least one factor stimulating hair production as well as a reporter gene which is operatively linked with the expression control sequence of a target gene of the factor, with a presumed inhibitor in a medium suitable for the detection of the reporter gene, wherein said factor stimulating hair production is a transcription factor selected from the group consisting of Whn, Hairless, LEF-1 and Hoxc13; (b) quantitative determination of the reporter gene activation in the cell; (c) quantitative determination of the reporter gene activation in a cell as defined in (a), without the cell having been contacted with a presumed inhibitor; and (d) comparing the reporter gene activation quantitatively determined from (b) and (c), wherein a reduction or a lack of detectable reporter gene activation in (b) in comparison to (c) presents an indication for an inhibitor.