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New Baldness Genes Discoveries

March 24, 2010

While receding hairline is a common problem in adult males when they reach the age of 40, hair loss mid-twenties, is a different story. Some blame it on heredity.

There is always the temptation to spend a fortune to get a hairpiece to go through the painful hair transplant, or lured by infomercials promoting some expensive magic hair growth formula. Statistics show that hair transplant in the U.S. alone over $ 115 million in 2007, while global revenues for medical therapymale baldness recently surpassed $ 405 million. Hair loss, but is not so easy to resolve.

In two recent studies published in the advance online edition of Nature Genetics, have discovered six gene variants, all on the same chromosome that are connected to hair loss for men. Both studies, combined with participants of 3,400 men and women in Western Europe, compared the genes of people with and without male pattern baldness.

Study authors VincentMooser of GlaxoSmithKline, Brent Richards of McGill University Faculty of Medicine and Tim Spector of King’s College, along with researchers from Iceland, Switzerland and the Netherlands, conducted a genome-wide association study of 1125 Caucasian men assessed for male pattern baldness been.

The researchers found two previously unknown genetic variants on chromosome 20, which significantly increases the risk of male pattern baldness. This was confirmed by the resultsin an additional 1650 Caucasian men.

“I would assume is male pattern baldness is not caused by the same genetic variation in-white color, but we have not studied those populations, so we can not say for sure,” said Richards, an assistant professor in genetic epidemiology.

It was known that a gene variant, the chances of male pattern baldness seven times higher if it can be driven by another baldness gene variant on the androgen receptor gene in the company. Researcherssaid that a man in seven has both of these gene variants.

The researchers identified five other gene variants that are associated with male pattern baldness, and on the same chromosome as the variant found Spector and colleagues.

While the discovery of the gene variants may be a scientific breakthrough that does not immediately translate into a treatment or cure for male pattern baldness. Many scientists, however, are inspired by theResults.

Nobody yet, what do these gene variants, or figuring out how they deal with baldness. That could inspire new treatments know that you note the researchers.

“Of course most people know when they are bald or not, but early diagnosis before hair loss starts may lead to some interesting therapies that are more effective than treating late stage hair loss,” said Spector in a press release.