In the News – Researchers Discover Ways to Disrupt Hair Growth and Loss
Snippet from the article:
It turns out that when it comes to growing hair that’s stopped growing, and stopping hair from growing where people don’t want it, the same molecules in the human body are at play, according to a new study from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
Researchers writing in the journal Cell Stem Cell this month say that balding is caused by the protein inhibitor Dkk1, which stops the intracellular Wnt/β-catenin pathway from functioning properly. They further found that stem cells for dormant hair follicles are still maintained after balding begins. When Dkk1 is removed, the Wnt/β-catenin pathway resumes normal function, stem cells were activated, and hair growth is restored.
Read the rest — Skin molecules that cause baldness, unwanted hair identified as U.S. researchers discover ways to disrupt both processes
We are getting a better understanding of the balding process and potential solutions as described in this interesting article.
so now its a protein. from DHT, then Prostagladin, now a protein lol. hairloss research is a joke. next year something else will be the cause.
Eli, you need to look into some biology – hormones, prostaglandins and proteins are all part and parcel of interconnected systems in the body. It’s not replacing DHT as the hormone involved in hair loss to say a sequence of proteins are the end function of a hormonal cascade.
Think of it like getting your mail delivered, the ’cause’ of your mail being delivered is your postal worker. But it is also the person sending you the mail, the post office, the sorting centers, the planes, vans and trucks involved in moving mail across the country etc. This is my rather bad analogy for some biological systems. I’m sure there are better. But if mail being delivered was something you wanted to stop – if you discover the total route and connections you have more options to alter the outcome.
In medicine it helps to understand the entire process as this gives more routes for therapies to be developed. DHT is a hormone – DHT blockers still result in less hair loss in many men. There are also prostaglandins and proteins created/impacted by the action of hormones and other substrates.
A doctor or researcher could no doubt explain this better but even someone with an amateur interest like me can read up on some basic bio chem.
The more researchers understand how hair is made and what pathways impact growth/lack of growth the more options they have to create targeted therapies. Sadly these all take time and money but at least it’s being researched.