However, as hair loss is still considered more of a cosmetic issue, scientists sometimes struggle to obtain funding for their work. Your genes play a key role in whether or not you will develop MPB. It seems that certain genes lead to your hair follicles being more sensitive to damage from hormonal changes, but scientists are working to understand which genes are responsible and why.
This innovation has the potential to identify those most at risk of hair loss early, in order to make a more effective intervention. One promising area of research into a cure for baldness is stem cells. These are a type of cell that has the ability to transform into other kinds of cells in your body, in order to repair damage to tissue. A research group in Japan is aiming to develop a hair follicle regeneration technology.
Their method involves cultivating stem cells around hair follicles to make them increase in size, thus reversing the miniaturisation of hair follicles that leads to MPB. In addition, scientists from UC San Francisco discovered that regulatory T cells Tregs , a type of immune cell that is linked to controlling inflammation, have a close relationship with the stem cells in hair follicles. Meanwhile, a Californian research programme has been successful in growing hair on mice using human induced pluripotent stem cells.
These are adult cells that are genetically reprogrammed to act like cells found in a developing foetus. The head researcher, Alexey Terskikh, has founded a company that hopes to license the technology for commercial use. If the transplant is successful, the relocated hair follicles will encourage hair growth to fill out the bald patches on your scalp. But, like the follicles that were already in place, the transplanted ones have a lifespan, and will eventually stop producing as much hair as they once did.
There is also the potential to develop further pharmacological treatments for hair loss, which could even include a permanent cure for baldness. Researchers from Columbia University Medical Center in New York have found that a group of drugs called JAK inhibitors can help increase scalp hair growth and encourage hair regrowth. These drugs tackle the activity of a family of enzymes called Janus kinase JAK , which are found in the hair follicles. Also, scientists at the University of Manchester have experimented with an immunosuppressive drug called cyclosporine A, which reduces the activity of the protein SFRP1 — a growth regulator that affects hair follicles.
Although cyclosporine A is not appropriate as a hair loss treatment, because it suppresses the immune system, the scientists found that another drug, WAY did an even better job at stopping SFRP1.
Several pharmaceutical companies have since expressed interest in developing WAY as a treatment for baldness, although this is awaiting FDA approval. In the UK, there are currently two treatments that are medically approved to tackle the most common type of hair loss — male pattern baldness. They are not available on the NHS but are easy to order online from a licensed pharmacy.
It works by blocking the activity of the enzyme 5-alpha reductase, which converts the male hormone testosterone to Dihydrotestosterone DHT. DHT is responsible for the miniaturisation of your hair follicles, meaning that they shrink and no longer produce healthy hair.
This helps to revitalise damaged follicles as they receive more oxygen and nutrients from your blood, with minimal side effects. These two treatments work to reduce or even reverse hair loss in the majority of men. Even slight differences in angle make hair look deeply unnatural. This discovery has launched a global arms race to generate sustainable hair follicles that will hold their shape.
It involves a synthetic scaffold, which Hamilton will describe only as proprietary. The scaffold would be implanted around the cloned follicle to direct the growth of the hair. Stemson Therapeutics recently partnered with the pharmaceutical giant Allergan to develop this scaffold for cloned hair, and Hamilton says they expect to start a clinical trial in humans in about a year and a half.
Meanwhile, Angela Christiano, a professor of genetics and dermatology at Columbia University, has used 3-D printing to generate a Jell-O mold that holds the follicle and dermal papillae in place as they differentiate into hair. Christiano, who has an autoimmune disorder that caused her body to attack the hair cells on her head, notes that though much attention around hair loss is paid to men, some 30 million women in the United States experience thinning of their hair.
Bernstein believes the idea of a biodegradable synthetic guide is the most promising approach out there. At least for the people who can afford it. Creating new hair for a person, follicle by follicle, in bespoke 3-D printed scaffolds, stands to be exorbitantly expensive. Though as technological develops costs should decline, hair regeneration will not likely be widely affordable.
Even a wealthy country like the U. Skip to content Site Navigation The Atlantic. The researchers found that corticosterone inhibits the activation of hair follicle stem cells by suppressing the production of a protein called GAS6, which promotes the proliferation of hair follicle stem cells in the absence of corticosterone.
There can be many causes of hair loss but it is most commonly due to ageing and a combination of genetics and the male hormone dihydrotestosterone. Experts in the field, although not involved in the study, agree with Dr Hsu that this is an extremely promising breakthrough, while echoing his caution that more work needs to be done.
The findings are especially timely since about one-quarter of people who get Covid experience hair loss six months after their symptoms appear, according to a study in The Lancet this year, Prof Yi said.
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