Baldness Breakthroughs :
Baldness breakthrough as scientists grow cells that sprout human hair for the first time
- Scientists have found a way of cloning the cells that contain the ‘instruction manual’ for growing new hair
- The lab-grown cells sprout hair when put back into human skin
- Treatment could be cheaper than hair transplants currently are
By Fiona Macrae Science Correspondent
PUBLISHED: 16:37 GMT, 21 October 2013 | UPDATED: 00:54 GMT, 22 October 2013
Baldness could soon be nothing more than a bad memory, thanks to a breakthrough by British scientists.
In research that could ‘transform’ the treatment of hair loss, they have found a way of cloning the tiny cells that contain the ‘instruction book’ for growing new hair.
In a world first, they have shown that when these lab-grown cells are put back into human skin, they sprout hair.
Although the work is at an early stage, the scientists from Durham University in the UK and Columbia University in the US, say it represents a real breakthrough in treating the hair loss that blights millions of men and women.
Options at the moment are limited to drugs and hair transplants. But drugs can have side-effects and hair transplants simply work with what is there, by redistributing existing hair.
In contrast, the new technique should actually boost the number of hairs on the head.
Columbia University researcher Dr Angela Christiano, who suffers from alopecia, in which clumps of hair fall out, said the work ‘has the potential to transform the medical treatment of hair loss’.
The team began by taking strips of human hair and extracting tiny cells called dermal papillae.
Found in clumps at the base of a hair, these cells contain the ‘instruction book’ for the growth of new hair.
The scientists then cloned the cells in a dish, until they had multiple copies of each one.
Other scientists have done this before but then failed to get the lab-grown cells to sprout hair when put back into skin.
The UK-US team got over this hurdle by turning the dish of cells upside down, to encourage them to form into the clumps found in nature.
The clumps were then transplanted into human skin that had been grafted on the backs of mice.
Once there, they sent out the instructions needed for new hairs to grow.
Cells from all seven human donors sprouted fledgling hairs and, in two or three cases, the tufts broke through the skin, the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports.
The new hairs were white but Durham researcher Colin Jahoda says it should possible to produce coloured hair in future.
Starting with a sample of a person’s own cells should also mean that any new hair is a good match in terms of texture and curliness.
Professor Jahoda said: ‘There are a lot of technical hurdles to cross before using it as a cosmetic treatment but this is a very important step forward.’
It is hoped that the first human trials will start soon and that men and women will both eventually benefit from the new treatment.
It is too early to say exactly how much it will cost but it could be cheaper than hair transplants which can cost up to £30,000 per patient, although the average price is £6,000 to £10,000.
Burns victims could also benefit, as replacement skin that is studded with hairs should be more functional than a completely smooth covering.
Although baldness is usually thought of as a male problem, some eight million British women are losing their hair.
Greg Williams, a hair transplant surgeon at the Farjo Hair Institute in London’ s Harley Street, said hair loss and thinning can be particularly devastating for women.
‘I can’t put enough emphasis on the fact that a woman’s hair is central to her psychological wellbeing, the confidence she has in her appearance and her sense of identity.’
Dr Williams said that hair transplants are often less suitable for women and the new technique ‘if it come to fruition, could be very, very beneficial for a lot of people’.
Prof Sheila MacNeil, of the University of Sheffield, said: ‘This is ground-breaking work.’
But Dr David Fenton of the British Association of Dermatologists warned that any treatment is still years away.
He said: ‘It is something for researchers to be excited about but not something that consumers should hold their breath for.’
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A CURE for baldness is a step closer after scientists developed a pioneering technique which grows new hair.
The team showed it was possible to regenerate follicles that could sprout new hair.
They grow from clusters of cells called dermal papillae which trigger new growth. The gradual death of these cells causes baldness.
The scientists harvested the cells from seven human donors, cloned them in a laboratory, and transplanted them into human skin grafted onto mice.
In five cases, the transplants resulted in new hair growth that lasted at least six weeks.
DNA analysis confirmed the new follicles were a genetic match to the donors.
It would be good news for younger men such as England footballer Rooney who underwent a nine-hour hair transplant this summer at London’s Harley Street Hair Clinic.
The surgery was a top-up treatment following 27-year-old Rooney’s initial transplant in 2011
“This could greatly expand hair restoration surgery to women and to younger patients.
“Now it is largely restricted to the treatment of male-pattern baldness in patients with stable disease.”
The research develops earlier work by Professor Colin Jahoda at the University of Durham, who co-led the new study which is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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In five of the tests, the transplants resulted in new hair growth that lasted at least six weeks. DNA analysis confirmed that the new hair follicles were human and a genetic match to the donors.
Although the research is at an early state, the British and American team is confident clinical trials could begin “in the near future”.
Professor Angela Christiano, from Columbia University Medical Centre in New York, said: “Current hair-loss medications tend to slow the loss of hair follicles or potentially stimulate the growth of existing hairs, but they do not create new hair follicles. Neither do conventional hair transplants, which relocate a set number of hairs from the back of the scalp to the front.
“Our method, in contrast, has the potential to actually grow new follicles using a patient’s own cells. This could greatly expand the utility of hair restoration surgery to women and to younger patients – now it is largely restricted to the treatment of male-pattern baldness in patients with stable disease.”
Dermal papillae are small cells found at the base of hair follicles. The research develops earlier work led by Professor Colin Jahoda at the University of Durham showing that in rodents dermal papillae could easily be harvested and transplanted back into the skin.
In rodents, the transplanted cells tended to clump together spontaneously and reprogramme the recipient’s skin to grow new hair follicles.
The new research followed the lessons learned in rodents by encouraging human cells to clump together in the same way.
“Dermal papilla cells give rise to hair follicles, and the notion of cloning hair follicles using inductive dermal papilla cells has been around for 40 years or so,” said Prof Jahoda, who co-led the research published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
“However, once the dermal papilla cells are put into conventional, two-dimensional tissue culture, they revert to basic skin cells and lose their ability to produce hair follicles. So we were faced with a Catch-22: how to expand a sufficiently large number of cells for hair regeneration while retaining their inductive properties.”
The technique may offer new hope to women as well as men who suffer from baldness, say the scientists. It also raises the prospect of new treatments for burns victims.
“About 90% of women with hair loss are not strong candidates for hair transplantation surgery because of insufficient donor hair,” said Prof Christiano. “This method offers the possibility of inducing large numbers of hair follicles or rejuvenating existing hair follicles, starting with cells grown from just a few hundred donor hairs. It could make hair transplantation available to individuals with a limited number of follicles, including those with female-pattern hair loss, scarring alopecia, and hair loss due to burns.”
Prof Jahoda said more work was needed to explore the properties of hair generated by newly grown follicles, and the interaction between transplanted dermal papillae and host cells.
He added: “Ultimately we think that this study is an important step toward the goal of creating a replacement skin that contains hair follicles for use with, for example, burn patients.”
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A breakthrough technique that can generate human hair growth shows promise for treating baldness in men and women, a new study suggests.
“If it works in humans, it actually opens up the possibility of hair restoration for many more patients than are currently available,” study co-leader Angela Christiano, a dermatology professor at Columbia University Medical Center, told NBC News.
In the study, Christiano and colleagues took dermal papillae — cells inside the base of human hair follicles — from seven donors and cloned the cells in tissue culture. After a few days, the cells were transplanted onto human skin that had been grafted onto the backs of mice.
The transplants resulted in new hair growth lasting at least six weeks in five of the seven tests, according to the findings. DNA analysis confirmed that the new hair follicles genetically matched the human donors.
The research is in its early stages, so it may be years before this science makes its way to the marketplace to help men and women with notable hair loss by age 60.
The study was published Monday in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Scientists say they have moved a step closer to banishing bald spots and reversing receding hairlines after human hair was grown in the laboratory.
A joint UK and US team was able to create new hairs from tissue samples.
Far more research is needed, but the group said its technique had the “potential to transform” the treatment of hair loss.
The study results were published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
There are baldness therapies including drugs to slow the loss of hairs, and transplants, which move hair from the back of the head to cover bald spots.
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“Yeah I think it [baldness] will eventually be treatable, absolutely.”
Prof Colin Jahoda, Durham University
The scientists at the University of Durham, in the UK, and Columbia University Medical Centre, in the US, were trying to actually grow new hairs.
Their plan was to start with material taken from the base of a hair and use it to grow many new hairs.
Tricky feat
But human hair has been tricky to grow despite successes in animal studies.
Whenever human tissue was taken from the dermal papillae, the cells which form the base of each hair follicle, the cells would transform into skin instead of growing new hairs.
However, the group found that by clumping the cells together in “3D spheroids” they would keep their hairy identity.
Tissue was taken from seven people and grown in 3D spheroids. These were then transplanted into human skin which had been grafted on to the backs of mice.
Cells were taken from the base of a follicle and used to grow new hairsAfter six weeks, new hair follicles formed in five out of the seven cases and some new tiny hairs began to form.
Prof Colin Jahoda, from Durham University, told the BBC a cure for baldness was possible but it was too soon for men to be hanging up the toupee.
“It’s closer, but it’s still some way away because in terms of what people want cosmetically they’re looking for re-growth of hair that’s the same shape, the same size, as long as before, the same angle. Some of these are almost engineering solutions.
“Yeah I think it [baldness] will eventually be treatable, absolutely.”
He added: “It’s hard to say exactly how long that would take, but the fact that we’ve done it now should reawaken interest.”
Any future therapy would involve transplanting cells which have been grown in the laboratory so safety is a concern.
There would be a risk of infection and the cells could become abnormal, or even cancerous, while being grown.
Baldness cures may not be the first application of the research. Prof Jahoda believes the findings will be used to improve the quality of skin grafts used after severe burns.
Prof Angela Christiano, from Columbia University, said: “This approach has the potential to transform the medical treatment of hair loss.
“Current hair-loss medications tend to slow the loss of hair follicles or potentially stimulate the growth of existing hairs, but they do not create new hair follicles.
“Our method, in contrast, has the potential to actually grow new follicles using a patient’s own cells.”
Clue to male baldness discovered
A biological clue to male baldness has been discovered, raising the prospect of a treatment to stop or even reverse thinning hair.
In studies of bald men and laboratory mice, US scientists pinpointed a protein that triggers hair loss.
Drugs that target the pathway are already in development, they report in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
The research could lead to a cream to treat baldness.
Most men start to go bald in middle age, with about 80% of men having some hair loss by the age of 70.
The male sex hormone testosterone plays a key role, as do genetic factors. They cause the hair follicles to shrink, eventually becoming so small that they are invisible, leading to the appearance of baldness.
Reverse balding?
Now, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have analysed which genes are switched on when men start to go bald.
They found levels of a key protein called prostaglandin D synthase are elevated in the cells of hair follicles located in bald patches on the scalp, but not in hairy areas.
Mice bred to have high levels of the protein went completely bald, while transplanted human hairs stopped growing when given the protein.
Prof George Cotsarelis, of the department of dermatology, who led the research, said: “Essentially we showed that prostaglandin protein was elevated in the bald scalp of men and that it inhibited hair growth. So we identified a target for treating male-pattern baldness.
“The next step would be to screen for compounds that affect this receptor and to also find out whether blocking that receptor would reverse balding or just prevent balding – a question that would take a while to figure out.”
The inhibition of hair growth is triggered when the protein binds to a receptor on the cells of hair follicles, said Prof Cotsarelis.
Several known drugs that target this pathway have already been identified, he added, including some that are in clinical trials.
The researchers say there is potential for developing a treatment that can be applied to the scalp to prevent baldness and possibly help hair regrow.
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Therapy uses platelet-rich plasma to treat hair loss
by RON CORNING / WFAA
WFAA
Posted on November 7, 2013 at 1:39 PM
DALLAS — There is no shortage of pills, creams, devices and procedures for men and women losing their hair.
Many carry only false hope of helping regrow hair. But, one local clinic is using a technique that’s working for men and women.
Shala Allen was diagnosed with cancer six years ago and braced for the hair loss.
“It was just awful to lose your hair,” she said. “It’s humiliating for you.”
And, like so many other cancer survivors, she was left with a lasting, noticeable reminder of her long fought battle. Her hair never grew back.
“Probably about four years and I would wear wigs and caps so people could not see,” Allen said.
But, then she heard about PRP. A simple process in which your blood is drawn and put into a centrifuge. The platelet-rich plasma, or PRP, is separated and injected into the scalp.
Long used to help promote healing in sports medicine, Clinician Bill Moore at Advanced Skin Fitness was the first in Dallas to use PRP for hair replacement.
But, Dr. Abraham Armani cautions that not everyone is a candidate.
“It’s sort of like fertilizer for a lawn,” Armani said. “[It’s] not going to grow new grass … It’s not a cure for baldness; it’s another effective method to have thicker healthier hair.
Allen said it worked for her.
“Within a month, I started to see some fuzz,” she said. “I was very excited about that.”
The results have been good enough for Allen to encourage the treatment for others.
“I would say don’t hesitate,” she said. “Don’t hesitate to do this for yourself.’
Ideal candidates are younger man and women with newly thinning hair and can serve as an alternative for Propecia patients who experience adverse side effect.
The therapy costs about $850 per treatment.
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Neograft a great solution for hair loss
By Robert Hunter, MD, Board Certified Obstetrics and Gynecology
Question: Is there anything I can do for hair loss?
Answer: Hair loss is a far too common problem, equally affecting both men and women. It is a stressful condition because it is visible to others, and negatively impacts self esteem.
Typically, after underlying medical conditions have been ruled out, patients are left frustrated without a solution for their hair loss. Fortunately, there are many treatments available to combat hair loss, including hair transplantation.
Historically, hair transplants for women were not an option, and for men it was considered a last resort because of scarring, down time, and unnatural hairlines.
Now, with the advent Neograft — an automated hair transplant device — transplantation is a viable option for both men and women. This technology allows for extraction of individual hair follicles from the back of the head that are genetically impervious to falling out. These follicles are then re-implanted in areas of hair loss. This process is discreet and natural looking, avoiding past problems of unsightly scars and obvious evidence of a transplant, even immediately following the procedure.
Hair transplantation with Neograft is typically completed in one day and requires minimal recovery time. This revolutionary safe and effective procedure is now available as part of the comprehensive hair restoration program at MD Beauty Labs.
Dr. Robert L. Hunter is Board Certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology. He has a private gynecology practice and also works with MD Beauty Labs in West Palm Beach. He educates medical students and is also honored to participate as a guest lecturer for the Sex Therapy Postgraduate Training Institute.
CONTACT INFORMATION
MD Beauty Labs Medical Spa and Wellness Center
320 S. Quadrille Blvd.; West Palm Beach
(561) 655-6325
By Robert Hunter, MD, Board Certified Obstetrics and Gynecology
Question: Is there anything I can do for hair loss?
Answer: Hair loss is a far too common problem, equally affecting both men and women. It is a stressful condition because it is visible to others, and negatively impacts self esteem.
Typically, after underlying medical conditions have been ruled out, patients are left frustrated without a solution for their hair loss. Fortunately, there are many treatments available to combat hair loss, including hair transplantation.
Historically, hair transplants for women were not an option, and for men it was considered a last resort because of scarring, down time, and unnatural hairlines.
Now, with the advent Neograft — an automated hair transplant device — transplantation is a viable option for both men and women. This technology allows for extraction of individual hair follicles from the back of the head that are genetically impervious to falling out. These follicles are then re-implanted in areas of hair loss. This process is discreet and natural looking, avoiding past problems of unsightly scars and obvious evidence of a transplant, even immediately following the procedure.
Hair transplantation with Neograft is typically completed in one day and requires minimal recovery time. This revolutionary safe and effective procedure is now available as part of the comprehensive hair restoration program at MD Beauty Labs.
Dr. Robert L. Hunter is Board Certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology. He has a private gynecology practice and also works with MD Beauty Labs in West Palm Beach. He educates medical students and is also honored to participate as a guest lecturer for the Sex Therapy Postgraduate Training Institute.
CONTACT INFORMATION
MD Beauty Labs Medical Spa and Wellness Center
320 S. Quadrille Blvd.; West Palm Beach
(561) 655-6325
info@mdbeautylabs.com
Stem cell researchers from Durham University and Columbia University have discovered that it’s possible to regrow hair follicles in human skin. Even though it’s only been tested on mice, the researchers are confident that they’re taking the right steps towards developing a solution for alopecia and other forms of hair-loss.
Recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers (including a Angela Christiano, who suffers from alopecia herself) took cells from donor hair follicles, called “dermal papillae,” and were able to grow new hair from the cells in a process called “neogenesis.”
Christiano said that the discovery ”has the potential to transform the medical treatment of hair loss,” and offers ”the possibility of inducing large numbers of hair follicles or rejuvenating existing hair follicles, starting with cells grown from just a few hundred donor hairs.”
This marks the very first time science has been able to generate new hair growth; usually the neogenesis fails because the dermal papillae lose their ability to induce hair growth in a petri dish. Slap the cells onto some infant foreskins (post-circumcision) instead, and suddenly – hair growth galore! They then grafted the cells onto mice, and the hair growth continued.
Next up – grafting them onto bald people! (We can only assume).
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Is a thyroid condition causing your hair loss?
Believe it or not, you can tell a lot about a person’s health by looking at his or her hair.
We recently received this email from a viewer:
Hi Dr. Manny,
If you lose your hair from a thyroid condition, will it grow back after treatment?
Thanks,
Dulce
Hair cells are some of the fastest growing cells in the body. So when your body is under stress from illness, hair cells can shut down to redirect the energy elsewhere to help heal what ails you.
According to the Academy of Dermatology, almost half of the American population experiences thinning hair by the age of 40, but people with certain thyroid conditions may start to lose their hair even earlier and more quickly.
“The good news is that your doctor can prescribe thyroid hormone medication to help your hair grow back,” said Dr. Jennifer Landa, chief medical officer for BodyLogicMD
. “The first thing that you’ll notice is a slowing of the hair loss, and then the hair will start to grow back, and ultimately it will grow thicker and stronger. But this can take several months.”
Landa added that if a patient has been on thyroid hormone medication for an extended period of time and is not seeing results, he or she should ask for a free T3 test – which measures for a specific thyroid hormone called triiodothyronine.
“Most medication that we get for thyroid is T4 (thyroxine), and most patients do very well on that,” she said. “But there are many patients that would benefit from the addition of some T3 into their thyroid hormone regimen to help them grow back hair longer and stronger.”
Do you have a health question for Dr. Manny? Please send it toDrManny@foxnews.com.
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Have researchers found a cure for balding?
Published November 01, 2013
One of the hardest realizations you can come to as an adult is the fact that you’re getting older. For many of us though, it doesn’t fully sink in until that exact moment when you look in the bathroom mirror and start to see your hair thinning.You feel like you are losing a little bit of yourself with each strand.
Every memory of combing your hair before picture day in school, shaving your head for summer swim meets, growing it long in winter to keep your head warm, are all fading. One truth is all that matters now, and that is that you will never have what you once did, and you will forever be looking in the mirror to see how much is gone.
In the United States alone, about 35 million men and 21 million women are currently experiencing hair loss. Mistakenly thought to be a strictly male disease, women actually make up forty percent of American hair-loss sufferers.
Could a new study just released by Columbia University Medical Center in New York City and the University of Durham in England hold the key to curing baldness? Not quite yet, but researchers claim this discovery could “revolutionize” the medical treatment of hair loss.
Scientists in the U.S. and Britain may have come much closer to finding a cure for baldness. For the first time they have generated new hair follicles that grow human hair. The method involved harvesting cells from the base of a human hair follicle, or dermal papillae, and cloning them in the laboratory. They then implanted these cloned cells into human skin grafted, or attached, to the back of a mouse. The dermal papillae cells were taken from seven different human donors. Of the seven cases, five of the mice grew new hair on the grafted skin.
The same technique still needs to be translated into human trials, but there is hope for revolutionary treatment for hair loss in the not so distant future. If this method works in human trials, there are many potential benefits, such as growing hair follicles for traditional transplantation, skin grafts for burn victims, and creating new hair follicles by direct injection of cells into the scalp. This is especially beneficial for women, who historically have had a more difficult time responding to transplantation, and other medical treatments for balding.
Although researchers have not been able to reverse hair loss, or stop the physical process of balding, this breakthrough could mean a remedy for hair loss in the form of regenerative medicine, the body using its own cells to restore hair, at least. New research will also allow drug companies to test any number of compounds on growing hair follicles. This advance could help in the discovery of new drug therapies to combat baldness.
Dr. David B. Samadi is the Chairman of the Department of Urology and Chief of Robotic Surgery at Lennox Hill Hospital in New York City. He is a board-certified urologist, specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of urological disease, with a focus on robotic prostate cancer treatments. To learn more please visit his websitesRoboticOncology.com and SMART-surgery.com. Find Dr. Samadi on Facebook.
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Hair Study and Research 