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TESTIMONIALS |
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HAIR NEWS |
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ScienceDaily (Apr. 14, 2010) — A team of investigators from Columbia, Rockefeller and Stanford Universities has identified a new gene involved in hair loss, as reported in a paper in the April 15 issue of Nature. This discovery may affect future research and treatments for male pattern baldness and other forms of hair loss.
The researchers found that the gene, called APCDD1, which causes a progressive form of hair loss beginning in childhood (known as hereditary hypotrichosis simplex). The disease is caused by a phenomenon called hair follicle miniaturization -- the same key feature of male pattern baldness. When hair follicles go through this miniaturization process, they shrink or narrow, causing the thick hair on the head to be replaced by thin, fine hair, known as "peach fuzz.".
This is most commonly observed in male pattern hair loss or androgenetic alopecia. Unlike commonly available treatments for hair loss that involve blocking hormonal pathways, treatments involving the gene function would be non-hormonal, which may enable many more people suffering from hair loss to receive such therapies.
Dr. Christiano and her team are now working to understand the complex genetic causes of other forms of hair loss including alopecia areata, with the hope of eventually developing new, effective treatments for these conditions.
ScienceDaily (Apr. 18, 2010) — Activation of the gene Lhx2 leads to increased hair growth. This is shown by Leif Carlsson's research team at Umeå University in Sweden in an article in the latest web edition of the scientific journal PLoS Genetics.
The length of the hair is determined by the duration of the growth phase; for example, the growth phase for scalp hair can proceed for a number of years, while the growth phase for eyebrows last a few months.
After the growth phase, hair formation ceases, and the follicle recedes and enters a period of rest. After a period of rest, a new growth period starts, and the old hair is ejected and lost from the body. The reason for this complex regulation of hair growth is not understood, but it has been suggested that it makes it possible to adjust hair growth to the season.
In the present study Leif Carlsson's research team identifies the transcription factor Lhx2 as an important regulator of hair formation. The Lhx2 gene is active during the hair follicle's growth phase and is turned off during the resting period. The scientists have been able to show that Lhx2 is functionally involved in the formation of hair, as hair follicles in which Lhx2 has been inactivated cannot produce hair. Moreover, the activation of the Lhx2 gene in hair follicles has been shown to activate the growth phase and hence the formation of hair. Thus, Lhx2 is a gene that is important for the regulation of hair growth.
Lhx2 gene is expressed periodically, primarily in precursor cells that are distinct from the cells in the bulging region of the follicles. It is a factor that is necessary for hair to be formed and to grow.
ScienceDaily (Feb. 24, 2009) — Going gray is caused by a massive build up of hydrogen peroxide due to wear and tear of our hair follicles. The peroxide winds up blocking the normal synthesis of melanin, our hair's natural pigment.
"Not only blondes change their hair color with hydrogen peroxide," said Gerald Weissmann, MD, Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal. "All of our hair cells make a tiny bit of hydrogen peroxide, but as we get older, this little bit becomes a lot. We bleach our hair pigment from within, and our hair turns gray and then white.
The researchers found that the build up of hydrogen peroxide was caused by a reduction of an enzyme that breaks up hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen (catalase). They also discovered that hair follicles could not repair the damage caused by the hydrogen peroxide because of low levels of enzymes that normally serve this function.
