Two new studies researching a class of drugs called JAK inhibitors have shown that oral treatment results in significant hair regrowth in patients with alopecia areata, an autoimmune condition that causes non-scarring patches of localized hair loss. Currently there is no cure for alopecia areata, so the possibility of a safe, effective medication is welcome news for thousands of affected patients. The two studies were published in September 2016 in the journal JCI Insight, a peer-reviewed journal dedicated to biomedical research.
New research has found that embryonic stem cells can be used to form a type of cell that induces new hair follicle growth, and that these cells promote robust hair growth when implanted into mice.
New research published in the journal Developmental Cell has confirmed the importance of dermal sheath stem cells in maintaining the hair growth cycle. These cells, located around the lower portion of growing follicles, form the basis of an experimental treatment, being developed by Replicel Life Sciences, Inc., to regenerate hair-producing follicles. If successful, the treatment will be a game-changer for the hair restoration industry.
Could a hormone that plays a critical role in red blood cell production also play a critical role in hair follicle production? According to a 2010 research report published in the Journal of Dermatological Science, this may be the case.
Dr. Claire Higgins and her colleague Dr. Colin Jahoda have published an overview of hair cloning and the challenges scientists face in attempting to develop hair regeneration therapies for androgenetic alopecia, or common balding. The article, published in Hair Transplant Forum International, points to two central problems in developing a hair loss therapy. The first is the difficulty in getting dermal papilla cells in humans to self-aggregate and form hair follicles and the second is the inability, thus far, of scientists to generate normal hairs and follicles.
For four decades, scientists have known about the possibility of using cells derived from the base of hair follicles (dermal papilla cells) to stimulate the growth of new hair. More recently, researchers have been able to harvest dermal papillae, multiply them, and induce the creation of new hair follicles – but only in rats. Now, for the first time, scientists at Columbia University have shown that they can induce new human hair growth from cloned human papillae. This procedure, called “hair follicle neogenesis,” has the potential to solve one of the primary limitations in today’s surgical hair restoration techniques; namely, the patient’s finite donor hair supply that is available for transplantation.
A significant number of hair loss patients do not have enough donor hair to be candidates for a hair transplant procedure with the percentage of women lacking stable donor hair greater than in men. This technique would enable both men and women with limited donor reserves to benefit from hair transplant procedures and enable current candidates to achieve even better results.
According to co-study leader Angela M. Christiano, Ph.D., of Columbia University in New York, the ground-breaking publication is a “substantial step forward” in hair follicle neogenesis. While the technology still needs further development to be clinically useful, the implications of successfully inducing new hair follicles to grow from cloned hair cells could be a game-changer in the arena of hair restoration. Instead of moving hair follicles from the donor area to the recipient area, as in a hair transplant, follicular neogenesis involves the creation of new follicles, literally adding more follicles to the scalp rather than merely transplanting them from one part of the scalp to another.
We have previously discussed Dr. Angela Christiano’s work on hair loss genetics with her team at Columbia University in New York. A review of the 16th annual meeting of the European Hair Research Society brings to our attention new research being conducted by a scientist who works at Dr. Christiano’s laboratory, Dr. Claire Higgins.
Dr. Higgins is studying the inductive properties of the dermal papilla (DP), which is a group of cells that form the structure directly below each hair follicle.
Japanese researchers have demonstrated that scientists can bioengineer viable, hair-producing follicles from epithelial stem cells and dermal papilla cells. Using these components, the team produced follicles that exhibit both the normal hair cycle and piloerection (the reflex contraction of a tiny muscle in the hair follicles which creates what is commonly referred to as “goose bumps”). The bioengineered follicles also developed the normal structures found within follicles and formed natural connections with skin tissues, muscle cells, and nerve cells.
Could it be that Vitamin D is the cure for baldness that scientists have been looking for all these years? New research on Vitamin D, and its receptors in hair follicles, has taken us down a previously untrodden path that could, potentially, lead to new medical treatments for hair loss.
The Vitamin D receptor was previously known to stimulate hair follicles, which were in the dormant phase of hair growth, to grow hair when activated. The research into Vitamin D and its effect on hair and skin, centers around this receptor.
RepliCel Life Sciences; a company based in Vancouver, Canada; is investigating hair cloning techniques in order to develop a treatment for androgenetic alopecia, or common genetic hair loss.
Research conducted by the company’s scientific founders and lead scientists, Drs. Kevin McElwee and Rolf Hoffmann, has shown that a certain type of cell, called a dermal sheath cup cell, is integral in initiating the growth of mature hair follicles. This mechanism of follicle growth, when coupled with previous research on dermal papillae cells, is key to our understanding of hair loss and is a potential avenue for developing a treatment that could reverse hair loss.
Scientists from Durham University in the UK have shown for the first time that a lab technique, called a three-dimensional cell culture, can produce spherical structures that are similar to naturally occurring structures in hair follicle formation (called dermal papilla or DP). This breakthrough study by Claire Higgins and Colin Jahoda, published in the June 2010 issue of the journal Experimental Dermatology, has the potential to unlock the ability of researchers to develop functional DP cells which can be used in hair restoration techniques such as hair cloning or hair multiplication.
Through this study, it was shown that the signaling pathways introduced by the administration of noggin and sonic hedgehog alone were insufficient to develop a hair follicle. When Laminin-511 protein was introduced to the tissue culture, the dermal papilla developed. When the protein was inhibited, hair follicle growth again ceased. This information supports prior studies suggesting that Laminin is critical in the early stages of follicle cell development and is required for continued follicle development and growth.
Follicular cell implantation (FCI) is based on the ability of the dermal papilla (DP) cells, found at the bottom of hair follicles, to stimulate new hairs to form. DP cells can be grown and multiplied in culture, so that a very small number of cells can produce enough follicles to cover an entire bald scalp.
In order to produce new follicles, two types of cells must be present. The first are Keratinocytes, the major cell type in the hair follicle, and the second are dermal papillae cells (DP) which lie in the upper part of the dermis, just below the hair follicle. It appears that the DP cells can induce the overlying keratinocytes to form hair follicles. There are a number of proposed techniques for hair regeneration that use combinations of cells that are implanted in the skin. The two major techniques involve either transplanting dermal papillae cells by themselves into the skin, or implanting them with keratinocytes.
Q: Considering cell cultivation is made possible how could their injection create a normal formation of hair on the scalp and can they induce hair growth also in scarred areas where previously hair stopped growing?
A: That is the question. It is not known if these induced follicles will resemble normal hairs, and be cosmetically acceptable on their own, or if they will grow unruly and must be used as a filler behind more aesthetically pleasing transplanted hair.
The British Government has awarded Intercytex a grant to automate the production of their new hair regeneration therapy. Intercytex is a cell therapy company that develops products to restore and regenerate skin and hair. Intercytex has partnered with a private company, The Automation Partnership (TAP), to develop an automated manufacturing process for their novel hair multiplication treatment.
