- Scientists have taken another step forward
in their search for a cure for baldness.
-
- Researchers at the Howard Hughes Institute
at the University of Chicago have managed to get hair follicles to form
in the mature skin cells of mice.
-
- This is remarkable because follicle formation
is a once-in-a-lifetime event that ordinarily happens only during early
the earliest stages of human development.
-
- Once hair follicles are gone, they are
not replaced.
-
- This latest research, published in the
journal Cell, suggests a molecule called beta-catenin may be the key messenger
that tells embryonic cells - cells that have yet to develop in specific
directions - to become hair follicles.
-
- If this is correct, the scientists may
be able to use this knowledge to develop treatments that will promote the
re-growth of hair in bald men.
-
- "Beta-catenin can cause adult epithelial
cells to revert to an embryonic-like state where they have the ability
to choose to become a hair follicle," said Professor Elaine Fuchs,
the lead author on the paper.
-
- "This is exciting because current
treatments for baldness only work if there are living follicles left, or
if the patient undergoes hair transplant surgery.
-
- "Our research shows that new follicles
can be created from adult skin cells if certain molecular players are induced
to act."
-
- Dual role
-
- The Chicago team have shown that beta-catenin
performs two very different functions.
-
- In adult cells, it helps to bind neighbouring
cells together so that they can "talk" to each other.
-
- However, during embryogenesis - the crucial
early stages after fertilisation - beta-catenin appears to have another
role: it reacts with a molecule called LEF-1, which is expressed only in
cells that will eventually become hair follicles.
-
- Together, these two molecules bind to
the DNA in a cell and tell it to become a hair follicle.
-
- The mice, which were genetically engineered
to have plenty of beta-catenin in their cells, were said to be "exceptionally
hairy".
-
- However, this led to problems with benign
follicle tumours forming on the mice.
-
- Further research
-
- "This is a case of too much of a
good thing leading to a bad thing," said Professor Fuchs. She cautioned
that much further work was required before hair growth could be induced
without the danger of unwanted side-effects.
-
- "If we can find a way to transiently
express beta-catenin in these skin cells, just until new follicles are
established, and then turn it off, we may be able to prevent tumour formation
and still allow hair follicles to form."
-
- Scientists have been able to grow hair
follicles in the laboratory for about a decade.
-
- The difficulty has been finding the right
chemical messengers that might trigger the re-growth of hair in men suffering
from male pattern baldness - the main cause of hair loss.
-
- But the knowledge gained by such experiments
may also help us to prevent the excessive and unwanted growth of hair experienced
by some women.
-
- It could also be used to engineer sheep
with thicker wool.
-
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/low/english/sci/tech/newsid_221000/221359.stm
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- ___________________
-
- Relevant Stories - *'Baldness Gene' discovered
(30 Jan 98¿|¿Sci/Tech)
-
- Internet Links - *Elaine Fuchs *Cell
*Regrowth Online Magazine
-
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of external internet sites.
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