Hair Loss Genetics News

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Q: There was a retrospective study by Lotufo et al. linking male pattern baldness to heart disease. Do you think there are other links like this for androgenetic alopecia?

A: Family studies revealed both the androgen receptor locus on the X chromosome, as well as a new locus on chromosome 3q26. Association studies performed in two independent groups revealed a locus on chromosome 20 (not near any known genes) as well as the androgen receptor on the X chromosome. Read on for the rest of the answer.

Dr. Angela Christiano, a colleague of Dr. Bernstein’s at Columbia University, has been studying the causes of alopecia areata and genetic hair loss for many years. She, in fact, suffers from the disease as well.

The New York Times has published a question and answer interview with Dr. Christiano which covers her own struggle with alopecia, her research into the causes of genetic hair loss, and where she sees the field going in the future.

Dr. Angela Christiano of Columbia University in New York and a team of scientific researchers, have identified a new gene involved in hair growth. Their discovery may affect the direction of future research for hair loss and the diagnosis and ultimate prevention of male pattern baldness.

The condition, which leads to thinning hair, is called hereditary hypotrichosis simplex. Through the study of families in Pakistan and Italy who suffer from this condition, the team was able to identify a mutation of the APCDD1 gene located in chromosome 18. This chromosome has been linked to other causes of hair loss.

Q: Is it worth getting the genetic test for balding?

A: You’re referring to Hair DX (hairdx.com), which costs about $150 and came to market in January of 2008 as the first test for androgenetic alopecia, aka male pattern baldness.

The test screens for variations in the androgen receptor gene on the X chromosome, the gene that is associated with male pattern hair loss. The purpose of the test is to identify persons at increased risk of developing hair loss before it is clinically apparent – so that medical intervention can be started early, when it is most effective.

Japanese scientists have located a gene that seems to regulate hair loss in mice. They feel that this gene may also play a role in hair loss in humans. The results of the studies were recently reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The HairDX genetic test for hair loss offers information that can aid you and your doctor in making an informed decision about the treatment of your hair loss. It offers one more bit of information that, in the context of other data (such as hair loss pattern, scalp miniaturization and family history) can help guide you and your doctor to formulate an appropriate treatment plan. How does it work? How accurate is the test? How does the test compare to information obtained from a history and physical exam by your physician? Dr. Bernstein answers these questions and more on the HairDX genetic test for hair loss.

Q: What are the genes that cause male pattern baldness? A: At this time the genes that actually cause hair loss are still unknown. However, there are two gene loci, recently identified, that appear to be associated with common baldness. The first is on the Androgen Receptor (AR) gene carried on the x-chromosome and the [...]

We all have seen that some bald sons have bald fathers, even when no one on the mother’s side of the family has any hair loss. This suggests that the genetics of male pattern alopecia is more complicated, with multiple genes influencing hair growth. And it is likely that the inheritance of baldness is polygenetic, with relevant genes coming from both the x-chromosome of the mother and non-sex chromosomes of either parent. So where are the other genes?

Two independent research groups, one from England and the other Germany, both published in the journal Nature Genetics, have identified a gene locus p11 on chromosome 20 that seems to be correlated with male pattern hair loss, and since the gene is on a non-sex chromosome, it offers an explanation for why the inheritance of common baldness can be from either side of the family.

Q: Why do some people have a full head of hair into their seventies or eighties and others start to go bald in their late teens or early twenties? A: The cause is genetic and this poly-genetic trait can be inherited from the mother’s side, the father’s side, or both. There is an old wives’ [...]