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- Cancer research has led to two new advances in the treatment of
hair loss.
- The first advance is being researched by Robert Hoffman and
Lingna Li of Anticancer Inc. in San Diego. The treatment invloves channeling genes into
hair follicles as part of a gene therapy for baldness. Although Dr. Hoffman and Dr. Li
have yet to discover the gene that is responsible for hair growth or baldness, they have
remarkable results in hair coloring experiments using the same gene therapy.This is a
major step forward as we have now identified the appropriate mechanism or vehicle to
deliver genes to hair follicles. The next big step is to identify the genes that are
responsible for hair growth and / or baldness. Some progress have already been made by Dr.
Patel, a molecular biologist at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. Dr. Patel
recently discovered a gene that is responsible for growing thick dark hair in a Mexican
family.
- The second advance is spearheaded y Stuart Yuspa and his team at
America's National Cancer Institute. As futuristic as it may soound, Stuart Yuspa's team
focuses on programming "biochemical signal that tells normal skin cells to form a
hair follicle and sprout". Dr. Yuspa and his colleages discovered that some cells are
responsible for giving instructions to other cells to form hair follicles and grow hair.
Now the more challenging task is to identify the biochemicals that cells exude in giving
orders to other cells.
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