Image by Getty Images\/Futurism<\/p>\n
Using gene modification techniques, a team of researchers have come up with a new treatment for balding, Wired reports a condition experienced to varying degrees by two-thirds of American men by age 35.<\/p>\n
The team, associated with the University of California, Irvine and a biotech company called Amplifica,believes they've identified the signaling pathway that drive hair growth to find new ways to stop stem cells from giving up on producing hair follicles.<\/p>\n
Experiments with mice, as detailed in a new paper published in the journal Developmental Cell last month, have been promising. The mice were genetically modified to have the hair growth signaling pathway turned on permanently.<\/p>\n
The result: the mice rapidly grew hair,in a promising first step towards a potentially groundbreaking treatment for an incredibly common condition, especially considering current treatment options like hair transplants and hair growth drugsare invasive and expensive.<\/p>\n
Using RNA sequencing, theteam found that a molecule called SCUBE3, which appears to hack follicles into producing hair again, was being expressed by the mice that had their genes modified.<\/p>\n
In an especially promising twist the technique even worked in mice that had human hair follicles grafted to their skins.<\/p>\n
There's much work to do before the treatment could be used on people. But UCLA professor and Amplifica chief scientific officer Maksim Plikus has no problems envisioning a future in which SCUBE3 is a simple, Botox injection-like treatment for balding patients.<\/p>\n
\"You have a patient sitting in a dentist-like chair, they close their eyes, and then you gotch, tch, tch, tch,\" Plikus told Wired.<\/p>\n
The molecule would simply be injected into the scalp less than a millimeter into the skin, a procedure that would take less than 20 minutes, according to Plikus.<\/p>\n
The system does have one major flaw: what if patients don't have hair follicles to begin with? In that case, they'll be stuck with the option of having new follicles transplanted.<\/p>\n
Despite that limitation, scientists are investigating new ways of addressing an issue faced by the majority of the male population and a large chunk of the female population as well with options that are far less invasive and potentially much cheaper.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: This Follicle-Hacking Drug Could One Day Treat Baldness [Wired]<\/p>\n
More on baldness: Doctors Say a Random Cheap Pill May Actually Reverse Balding<\/p>\n
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Read the original post: Image by Getty Images\/Futurism Using gene modification techniques, a team of researchers have come up with a new treatment for balding, Wired reports a condition experienced to varying degrees by two-thirds of American men by age 35. The team, associated with the University of California, Irvine and a biotech company called Amplifica,believes they've identified the signaling pathway that drive hair growth to find new ways to stop stem cells from giving up on producing hair follicles. Continue reading
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