Gene Therapy vs Hair Cloning

The interest last week on our piece addressing hair cloning was very high. I would like to call your attention to a recent breakthrough that has just been reported on gene therapy. Scientists hope that by getting at the genetic roots of hair loss, they will eventually spawn better baldness treatments or a cure. This is a distinctly different approach than cloning a hair and more in line to the approach being used to cure cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and the like. The focus of such work is to identify the defect that causes the problem we wish to fix and then to develop a drug, enzyme blocker, or another approach to address the problem. There are many baby steps taking us to that cure and Dr. Markus M Nothen of the University of Bonn in Germany identified an androgen receptor gene on the ‘X’ Chromosome which is contributed by the mother in setting a person up for balding. The androgen receptor gene helps govern the workings of male sex hormones (androgens), such as testosterone.

Though these hormones promote the growth of body and facial hair, on the scalp excess androgens may cause hair loss. Dr. Nothen believes that this is only one of possibly many genes that trigger the balding process.

Reference:

• Mum’s genes blamed for male hair loss
• Going Bald: Thanks Mom!