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The guy whose naked skull is pale and shiny — save that discolored mole shaped like Cuba near his ear, which inexplicably bristles with hair — may harbor an antidote to baldness.
Researchers at the University of California, Irvine, say they’ve zeroed in on the molecule responsible for hair strands sprouting from moles like that. Their peer-reviewed study, published June 21 in the scientific journal Nature, is being touted as a major baldness breakthrough.
“This is a game changer for hair loss for a couple of reasons,” said Maksim Plikus, professor of developmental and cell biology at UCI and study lead.
“Instead of studying only mouse fur — research in this area is usually done with mouse fur — we said, ‘Enough of that. Let’s look at human hair.’ ”
Millions of people have skin growths — “nevi,” in scientific-speak — with hair growing out of them, “a really cool experiment that nature created itself,” he said.
Over some 10 years of work, the researchers identified a chemical released by a mole’s pigmented cells that “potently stimulates hair follicle stem cells for robust hair growth.” That molecule is osteopontin.
It was hard to pin down, Plikus said, but reverse-engineering eventually bore fruit. Or hair, if you will.
“Dermatologists, hair biologists and our patients have long recognized that some nevi induce luxurious hair growth, and this article elegantly demonstrates a novel mechanism for this phenomenon,” Dr. Luis Garza, dermatology professor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, said by email. He was not involved in the research. “After careful animal testing and human trials — that could take years — this work could lead to new medications that help patients with hair loss.”
HOW IT WORKS
A critical difference between a hairy mole and adjacent skin (with short hairs) is that the moles contain those aforementioned pigmented cells. They’re older cells, done dividing. The science-speak for them is “senescent.”
Senescent cells are often viewed as rather useless — detrimental to regeneration, driving the aging process.
But the research shows these senescent cells “linger around and secrete a bunch of stuff,” as Plikus put it. “They use molecular language — you can’t shut them up. They keep talking talking talking, communicating with non-aged cells, including stem cells.”
The bit of molecular language that’s important here is osteopontin, which apparently tells target stem cells to go full Rapunzel. Secreted osteopontin interacts with a molecule on the stem cells called CD44, apparently flipping the hair- growing switch to “gonzo.”
Plikus envisions a next-generation medicine that can trigger massive hair growth delivered via microinjection to scalps.
The researchers plan to study other molecules to see if there are other potential pathways to hair regrowth. In addition to the team at UCI, research partners hail from China, France, Germany, Korea, Japan and Taiwan.
COMMERCE
Last year, research from Plikus and crew likened seemingly dead hair follicles to a sea of sleeping 3D printers, just waiting for the command to power up. They figured out how to issue that command — by micro-injecting a protein into mice.
“Our results identify SCUBE3 as a hair-growth activator,” said their paper, published in the journal Developmental Cell. “When micro-injected for 4 days … recombinant human SCUBE3 induced significant hair growth in mouse back skin.”
The commercial potential here is huge. More than 80% of men and nearly half of women will have significant hair loss during their lifetime, according to New York University’s Langone Health.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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