New Discovery by Dr Lu Le, Texas Southwestern Medical Center

Stem cell; cell based hair therapy
1

Looks promising

http://www.newstalk.com/Hair-today-gone-tomorrow:-New-cure-for-baldness-discovered

2

“protein KROX20-producing cells”.
Article doesn’t say which cells are responsible for producing or not producing KROX20 proteins that apparently regulates hair growth?? Do they keep it proprietary as to which cells produce KROX20 proteins?
Is it possible to manufacture KROX20 proteins and deliver them into the scalp?

3

A couple of things we can learn from this:

  1. They were researching something else – a neurological issue which was unrelated to hair – when they discovered this. Dr. Terskykh at Sanford Burnham was also researching a neurological issue when he made his discovery. (Note: embryologically, the development of hair follicles comes partly from the neural ectoderm, the same embryonic cells which give rise to the nervous system – so, believe it or not, your hair and your nerves are related.) The fact that so many hair loss related discoveries come from research into other systems of the body shows that PRIMARY hair loss research is underfunded. (Remember, Rogaine came from a drug used to treat high blood pressure).

  2. True, we don’t know if what exists in mice is the same as what exists in humans. Most likely, there is an ANALOGOUS protein, similar but not with an identical peptide sequence. But at least now someone will (hopefully) look for the analogous human protein and try to sequence it. That will take a while. Unfortunately, the mouse protein itself will probably not work in humans.

  3. Here’s a video –

4

In a report about this on my local NBC news affiliate last night, Dr. Le now he says he wants to release the protein in a topical. He seemed very excited about this.