michael barry
Senior Member
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Gene defect linked to baldness
By Kerry Young, Bloomberg News | November 10, 2006
WASHINGTON -- Scientists have identified a genetic defect in some people who have trouble growing hair, opening a new avenue for research on treatments for baldness, according to a study in today's edition of the journal Science.
An enzyme called lipase H may help hair grow and develop, researchers wrote. A specific gene, LIPH, which allows the body to produce the enzyme, is defective in some members of Russia's Chuvash and Mari populations, in which even young girls sometimes inherit a form of baldness, the scientists found.
About one in four men begins to lose hair by age 30, and two in three will be bald or "have a balding pattern" by 60, according to the US National Institutes of Health.
Although drugs such as <ORG idsrc="NYSE" value="PFE">Pfizer</ORG> Inc.'s Rogaine are sold to treat hair loss, the medicines don't work for everyone, and the response to the products can't be predicted.
The new research "identifies a novel molecular pathway in regulation of hair growth," said Evgeny Rogaev, the leader of the study and a geneticist at University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, in a Nov. 7 e-mail. "Experiments in animals will be required to prove these predictions."
I hope couteracting this gene can help these people. It may not help men with androgenic hairloss, but then it again it might. Its sad to see a young woman lose her hair though. Hope they can help em' out.
By Kerry Young, Bloomberg News | November 10, 2006
WASHINGTON -- Scientists have identified a genetic defect in some people who have trouble growing hair, opening a new avenue for research on treatments for baldness, according to a study in today's edition of the journal Science.
An enzyme called lipase H may help hair grow and develop, researchers wrote. A specific gene, LIPH, which allows the body to produce the enzyme, is defective in some members of Russia's Chuvash and Mari populations, in which even young girls sometimes inherit a form of baldness, the scientists found.
About one in four men begins to lose hair by age 30, and two in three will be bald or "have a balding pattern" by 60, according to the US National Institutes of Health.
Although drugs such as <ORG idsrc="NYSE" value="PFE">Pfizer</ORG> Inc.'s Rogaine are sold to treat hair loss, the medicines don't work for everyone, and the response to the products can't be predicted.
The new research "identifies a novel molecular pathway in regulation of hair growth," said Evgeny Rogaev, the leader of the study and a geneticist at University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, in a Nov. 7 e-mail. "Experiments in animals will be required to prove these predictions."
I hope couteracting this gene can help these people. It may not help men with androgenic hairloss, but then it again it might. Its sad to see a young woman lose her hair though. Hope they can help em' out.
