Wake-up call to genes may lead to cure for baldness - Independent Online Edition > Health
There is new hope for the follicly challenged. Scientists have found a way to regenerate hair follicles which may lead to a cure for baldness - and a bonanza for its inventors.
By reawakening genes once active only in developing embryos, they have stimulated cells in the skin to grow new hair follicles - promising to turn a polished scalp into a good thick rug.
The discovery promises a solution for the estimated 35 million balding Americans - and millions more in the UK and around the world - who spend $1.5bn (£750m) a year on hair-restoration products, drugs and transplant surgery.
A US company, Follica Inc, has licensed the technology from the University of Pennsylvania, where the discovery was made, in the hope of developing new treatments for hair loss and acne.
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Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania believe they may have found it. In experiments on mice they have shown that when a wound heals, instead of forming scar tissue it can be stimulated to regenerate skin complete with hair follicles and oil glands by introducing proteins involved in hair follicle development (known as "wnt" proteins).
The researchers say wound healing offers a window of opportunity, when the skin is returned to an embryonic state which makes it receptive to the influence of the proteins.
George Cotsarelis, who led the study published in Nature and is a co-founder of Follica, said: "We have found that we can influence wound healing with 'wnts' or other proteins that allow the skin to heal in a way that has less scarring and includes all the normal structures of the skin, such as hair follicles and oil glands, rather than just a scar."
By introducing more wnt proteins to the wound, the researchers were able to double the number of new hair follicles. The research has implications that go beyond finding a cure for male-pattern baldness. It raises the possibility of treatments foracne, scalp conditions and hair overgrowth.
[...]
* Male pattern baldness is the most common: hair recedes from the temples, forehead and crown. An excess of testosterone in the body is thought to be the cause
There is new hope for the follicly challenged. Scientists have found a way to regenerate hair follicles which may lead to a cure for baldness - and a bonanza for its inventors.
By reawakening genes once active only in developing embryos, they have stimulated cells in the skin to grow new hair follicles - promising to turn a polished scalp into a good thick rug.
The discovery promises a solution for the estimated 35 million balding Americans - and millions more in the UK and around the world - who spend $1.5bn (£750m) a year on hair-restoration products, drugs and transplant surgery.
A US company, Follica Inc, has licensed the technology from the University of Pennsylvania, where the discovery was made, in the hope of developing new treatments for hair loss and acne.
[...]
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania believe they may have found it. In experiments on mice they have shown that when a wound heals, instead of forming scar tissue it can be stimulated to regenerate skin complete with hair follicles and oil glands by introducing proteins involved in hair follicle development (known as "wnt" proteins).
The researchers say wound healing offers a window of opportunity, when the skin is returned to an embryonic state which makes it receptive to the influence of the proteins.
George Cotsarelis, who led the study published in Nature and is a co-founder of Follica, said: "We have found that we can influence wound healing with 'wnts' or other proteins that allow the skin to heal in a way that has less scarring and includes all the normal structures of the skin, such as hair follicles and oil glands, rather than just a scar."
By introducing more wnt proteins to the wound, the researchers were able to double the number of new hair follicles. The research has implications that go beyond finding a cure for male-pattern baldness. It raises the possibility of treatments foracne, scalp conditions and hair overgrowth.
[...]
* Male pattern baldness is the most common: hair recedes from the temples, forehead and crown. An excess of testosterone in the body is thought to be the cause
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