Hair Growth Breakthrough
Scientists have taken a step forward in understanding the mechanisms behind a problem that has bedeviled many men, and some women, for all of history: hair loss.
The study identifies a key signaling molecule that tells hair follicles to start the hair-growing cycle.
“These are very complex molecular signals, and the authors have very nicely shown that there is one molecule, laminins 511, that is a very important signal to tell the hair molecule to move through the process.
The report, published today in the Journal of Genes and Development, focuses on a molecule called laminin-511. The molecule acts like an operator, transferring messages, or proteins, between the outer and inner layers of skin, an exchange that ultimately drives hair formation.
Unlike Rogaine or Propecia, products that slow hair loss, researchers hope the laminin-511 could potentially regenerate the actual follicles that grow hair.
“Loss of hair is not going to kill anybody,” said Dr. Peter Marinkovich, the study’s senior author and an associate professor at Stanford University’s School of Medicine. “At the same time, for some people, hair loss can be a really traumatic thing, especially for women.”
He hopes the treatment eventually could help patients who suffer from alopecia, a disorder that can cause hair loss in patches, or speed up hair growth for chemotherapy patients.
It’s part of a basic biological understanding,” said Dr. Ronald Crystal, chairman of genetic medicine at New York Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City.
The researchers, reporting in the Aug. 1 issue of Genes & Development, feel the findings may one day hold the key to treating male-pattern baldness, as well as hair loss from chemotherapy or even to restore hair on burn victims.
