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Scientists identify gene that may explain hair loss
Bob, found this wonderful article and I am posting it for him. Good news possibly :o)
HONG KONG — Researchers in Japan have identified a gene that appears to determine cyclical hair loss in mice and believe it may also be responsible for hair loss, or alopecia, in people.
In a report published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the scientists described how they generated a line of mice that were lacking in the Sox21 gene.
"The mice started to lose their fur from postnatal day 11, beginning at the head and progressing toward the tail region of the back," they wrote.
"Between day 20 and day 25, these mice eventually lost all of their body hair, including the whiskers. Intriguingly, new hair regrowth was initiated a few days later but was followed by renewed hair loss."
The cyclical alopecia continued for more than two years and the researchers observed that the mutant mice had enlarged oil-secreting sebaceous glands around the hair follicle and a thickened layer of skin cells during periods of hair loss.
"The gene is likely involved with the differentiation of stem cells that form the outer layer of the hair shaft," wrote the researchers, led by Yumiko Saga of the Division of Mammalian Development at the National Institute of Genetics in Mishima.
The scientists went on to examine human skin samples, where they found evidence of this same gene.
"We confirmed that Sox21 is also expressed in the hair shaft cuticle in humans ... These results indicate that the Sox21 gene could be responsible for some hair loss conditions in humans," the authors concluded.
(Reporting by Tan Ee Lyn; Editing by Alex Richardson)
HONG KONG — Researchers in Japan have identified a gene that appears to determine cyclical hair loss in mice and believe it may also be responsible for hair loss, or alopecia, in people.
In a report published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the scientists described how they generated a line of mice that were lacking in the Sox21 gene.
"The mice started to lose their fur from postnatal day 11, beginning at the head and progressing toward the tail region of the back," they wrote.
"Between day 20 and day 25, these mice eventually lost all of their body hair, including the whiskers. Intriguingly, new hair regrowth was initiated a few days later but was followed by renewed hair loss."
The cyclical alopecia continued for more than two years and the researchers observed that the mutant mice had enlarged oil-secreting sebaceous glands around the hair follicle and a thickened layer of skin cells during periods of hair loss.
"The gene is likely involved with the differentiation of stem cells that form the outer layer of the hair shaft," wrote the researchers, led by Yumiko Saga of the Division of Mammalian Development at the National Institute of Genetics in Mishima.
The scientists went on to examine human skin samples, where they found evidence of this same gene.
"We confirmed that Sox21 is also expressed in the hair shaft cuticle in humans ... These results indicate that the Sox21 gene could be responsible for some hair loss conditions in humans," the authors concluded.
(Reporting by Tan Ee Lyn; Editing by Alex Richardson)
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Ronda on
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Maybe this could be our answers with some research.
Thanks with the info:)
Ronda
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Permalink Reply by BaldGirlsDoLunch.org on
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While these reports make for hopeful reading, it is such a long long way from scientists seeing something under a microscope to anything useful that there's no reason to get excited about any of these basic science articles.
Just think of how many hundreds of millions of dollars are spent on all the common autoimmune diseases by researchers around the world every year. Not one autoimmune disease has ever been cured. Some have acceptable management ( diabetes comes to mind).
Research has runs of fads. The fad du jour is that genetics will yield the answer to everything that ails people. Before genetics it was viruses, and before it was viruses it was something else.
To put things in perspective...look at the results of the trial of alefacept
that I reported on this week in my aa medical updates blog.
Alefacept ( Amevive) is a commonly used and well understood drug used for a long time for severe psoriasis. It seemed a no brainer to create a scientific clinical trial for patients with alopecia areata and a good study was designed and tried. After all the hoopla announcing this big study when it was rolled out in 2006 ( building up the hopes of aa patients in the US) - what are the results? According to the lead researcher, Dr. Strober:" Resoundingly unsuccessful" - and this is with something already very well understood as a T-cell modulating drug. So why do folks get so worked up about genetics which is so poorly and so scantily understood at best.
Keep educated and keep things in perspective.
Thea
baldgirlsdolunch.org
for accurate and very up to date medical info and lots more!
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I'm a compassionate realist.
Positive, shmositive - there's nothing remotely useful here. But I'll keep an eye on these researchers and be sure to post their next "greatest advance" in my blog.
Thea
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Permalink Reply by Bob Hershberger on
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Fair enough..Bob: ))
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