Potential new cure found for baldness

Authored by bbc.com and submitted by mvea
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A potential new cure for baldness has been discovered using a drug originally intended to treat osteoporosis.

Researchers found the drug had a dramatic effect on hair follicles in the lab, stimulating them to grow.

It contains a compound which targets a protein that acts as a brake on hair growth and plays a role in baldness.

Project leader Dr Nathan Hawkshaw told the BBC a clinical trial would be needed to see if the treatment was effective and safe in people.

Only two drugs are currently available to treat balding (androgenetic alopecia):

Neither is available on the NHS and both have side-effects and are not always very effective, so patients often resort to hair transplantation surgery instead.

The research, published in PLOS Biology, was done in a lab, with samples containing scalp hair follicles from more than 40 male hair-transplant patients.

The researchers, from the University of Manchester, first latched onto an old immunosuppressive drug, cyclosporine A, used since the 1980s to prevent transplant organ rejection and reduce symptoms of autoimmune disease.

The scientists found that the drug reduced the activity of a protein called SFRP1, a key growth regulator that affects many tissues including hair follicles.

But because of its side effects, CsA was unsuitable as a baldness treatment.

The team went on to look for another agent that targeted SFRP1 and found that WAY-316606 was even better at suppressing the protein.

Dr Hawkshaw said the treatment could "make a real difference to people who suffer from hair loss".

Hair loss is a daily occurrence and generally nothing to worry about. Some types are temporary and some are permanent.

You should see a doctor because of:

A British Association of Dermatologists spokesman told the BBC: "This is a very interesting study.

"As the researchers say, hair loss is a common disorder and it can cause considerable damage to emotional health, including loss of self-esteem and confidence.

"That said, more research will need to be done before it can be used by people with hair loss.

"For individuals with hair loss, treatments can be very hit and miss. There isn't one which is universally effective.

"For that reason new treatments are exciting as they give people more treatment options that may be effective."

Have you gone bald? Do you find it difficult having no hair, or does baldness not bother you? Email [email protected].

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phenethyljammin on May 9th, 2018 at 14:00 UTC »

Can someone knowledgeable tell us why this won't result in medication to cure baldness?

BambinoTayoto on May 9th, 2018 at 13:38 UTC »

Can anyone comfirm wether it cures baldness or prevents it?

mvea on May 9th, 2018 at 12:07 UTC »

The post title is a copy and paste from the first, second and third paragraphs of the linked popular press article here :

A potential new cure for baldness has been discovered using a drug originally intended to treat osteoporosis.

Researchers found the drug had a dramatic effect on hair follicles in the lab, stimulating them to grow.

It contains a compound which targets a protein that acts as a brake on hair growth and plays a role in baldness.

I’ve removed the word “cure” and “dramatic” from the title to reduce the sensationalism.

Journal Reference:

Hawkshaw NJ, Hardman JA, Haslam IS, Shahmalak A, Gilhar A, Lim X, et al. (2018)

Identifying novel strategies for treating human hair loss disorders: Cyclosporine A suppresses the Wnt inhibitor, SFRP1, in the dermal papilla of human scalp hair follicles.

PLoS Biol 16(5): e2003705.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.2003705

Link: http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.2003705

Abstract

Hair growth disorders often carry a major psychological burden. Therefore, more effective human hair growth–modulatory agents urgently need to be developed. Here, we used the hypertrichosis-inducing immunosuppressant, Cyclosporine A (CsA), as a lead compound to identify new hair growth–promoting molecular targets. Through microarray analysis we identified the Wnt inhibitor, secreted frizzled related protein 1 (SFRP1), as being down-regulated in the dermal papilla (DP) of CsA-treated human scalp hair follicles (HFs) ex vivo. Therefore, we further investigated the function of SFRP1 using a pharmacological approach and found that SFRP1 regulates intrafollicular canonical Wnt/β-catenin activity through inhibition of Wnt ligands in the human hair bulb. Conversely, inhibiting SFRP1 activity through the SFRP1 antagonist, WAY-316606, enhanced hair shaft production, hair shaft keratin expression, and inhibited spontaneous HF regression (catagen) ex vivo. Collectively, these data (a) identify Wnt signalling as a novel, non–immune-inhibitory CsA target; (b) introduce SFRP1 as a physiologically important regulator of canonical β-catenin activity in a human (mini-)organ; and (c) demonstrate WAY-316606 to be a promising new promoter of human hair growth. Since inhibiting SFRP1 only facilitates Wnt signalling through ligands that are already present, this ‘ligand-limited’ therapeutic strategy for promoting human hair growth may circumvent potential oncological risks associated with chronic Wnt over-activation.