Cure From Baldness On The Horizon

By Margarita Nahapetyan

Not long ago Chinese scientists, working at the of Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, stated that they have discovered a DNA mechanism that gives birth to a rare form of genetic hair loss which starts before adulthood. At this point the biggest thing in the world of hair loss study is genes. Specific genes to cause male baldness have been found and, therefore experts are working on drugs that could stop the activation of these genes. Scientists suggest that their discovery offers hope for those who suffer from this type of disease and promise that men would finally stop losing their hair in the future.

Problems in a gene called U2HR cause a condition called Maria Unna Hereditary Hypotrichosis, or MUHH, also known as congenital atrichia. The condition was named after German dermatologist who was the first one to identify the problem after reporting it in 27 individuals in northern Germany. In 1925 it was called Hypotrichosis Congenital Hereditaria. MUHH is characterized by hair loss that starts during childhood and affects both men and women. Children born with congenital atrichia have very little or no hair at all at birth and have wiry or coarse hair in childhood which they gradually lose at puberty. The hair never grows back. Victims of these rare and inherent disease do not normally have or have very little armpit and pubic hair, they lack eyebrows and eyelashes. Women often have hair of a normal thickness which does not grow long and have poor growth of their nails.

For their research, Dr. Xue Zhang and fellow colleagues analyzed genome of 19 Chinese families from several ancestral backgrounds and with a history of MUHH. The team discovered mutations of U2HR (located on Chromosome 😎 led to increased levels of a protein called the human hairless homolog (HR), which causes the regeneration and, later the death of hair follicles. Therefore, there is a greater chance for a person to become bold. "In a large Chinese family carrying MUHH, we identified a pathogenic initiation codon mutation in U2HR, an inhibitory upstream ORF in the 5' UTR of the gene encoding the human hairless homolog (HR). U2HR is predicted to encode a 34-amino acid peptide that is highly conserved among mammal, "reported the scientists. Dr. Xue Zhang said that their findings show that levels of HR have to be maintained at a certain level to prevent hair loss. The expert concluded, "Our results establish the link between MUHH and U2HR, show that fine-tuning of HR protein levels is important in control of hair growth, and identify a potential mechanism for preventing hair loss or promoting hair removal." The discovery of this DNA mutation might one day help in finding a remedy and a cure for the disease and for all types of genetic hair loss in general.

There are just several different types of hair loss which affect men and women. Male pattern baldness is the most common form of hair loss among men, and can start at any time after 20s. The condition affects about 30 percent of men in their 30s, and is hereditary. But people must understand the difference between male pattern baldness and other types of hair loss that can be caused and aggravated by stress. Male pattern baldness is a hereditary genetic condition and cannot be made any worse by stress. There are some hair loss conditions that are being initiated by stress, such an alopecia areata, for example. Alopecia areata is a rare condition which usually occurs when a person is under psychological or physical stress. It is the condition where the hair starts to fall out in big clumps which increases the stress even more and aggravates the hair loss condition even more The condition completely disrupts the immune system of ones body which leads, in its turn, to the destruction of hair follicles. Most of people think that hair loss is all the same and, therefore can be treated the same way, but this is not even close to be true. Patients should always get an advice from professionals before trying to do anything independently. The scientists pinpoint that those people who go and get a doctor's consultation have better chances to reverse hair loss than those who do not.

However, men and women who suffer from genetic hair loss, should not be excited too early with the hope because it is very unlikely that any real medication to block this pathway will be on the market in the nearest future. The processes and mechanisms of baldness problem are extremely complicated and scientists say that this is just a beginning , that "they have only seen the tip of the iceberg" so far.

The study of Dr. Zhang, Yang Liu, Yi8ming Xu, Yiwei Zhao, Yaran Wen and colleagues is entitled "Loss-of-function mutations of an inhibitory upstream ORF in the human hairless transcript cause Marie Unna hereditary hypotrichosis. It was published online on Sunday, January 4, in the journal Nature Genetics.