Validation of the expression levels of LEF1, TGFB1 and TGFB2 marker genes by qPCR. The expression levels of LEF1, TGFB1 and TGFB2 genes were checked by qPCR, to confirm that our samples were collected from the right phases. Previous studies showed that the expression level of LEF1 in hair follicles is higher in anagen compared with the catagen and telogen phases [15], whereas the expression level of TGFB1 is upregulated in catagen [16], and the expression level of TGFB2 is upregulated in late telogen/early anagen [17]. Both the qPCR results and sequencing data showed that the expression patterns of these three genes were consistent with the expected phases (** p < 0.01,* p < 0.05).