Interesting study

Stem cell; cell based hair therapy
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Contact: Karen Honey
press_releases@the-jci.org
734-546-5242
Journal of Clinical Investigation

Going bald without hair follicle progenitors
Androgenetic alopecia (AGA) is a frequent form of hair loss in both men and women. However, it is more common in men, in whom it is also known as male-pattern baldness. Through the analysis of bald and non-bald scalp samples from men with AGA, a team of researchers, led by George Cotsarelis, at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, has gained new insight into the underlying causes of AGA. Specifically, the data indicate that a defect in the conversion of hair follicle stem cells to progenitor cells has an important role in AGA. The authors therefore suggest that further studies defining the signals responsible for the transition of stem cells to progenitor cells could provide new therapeutic targets for the treatment of AGA.

TITLE: Bald scalp in men with androgenetic alopecia retains hair follicle stem cells but lacks CD200-rich and CD34-positive hair follicle progenitor cells

AUTHOR CONTACT:
George Cotsarelis
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Phone: 215.898.9967; Fax: 215.573.9102; E-mail: cotsarel@mail.med.upenn.edu.

View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/44478?key=0a1481860c0b098075c7

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THANKS googoo, you’ve made my day!

This is (a further IMPORTANT) missing puzzle piece in the (hair loss-)reasearch-world I tried to find - for support of other researchers claims/observation/research in the past.

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» THANKS googoo, you’ve made my day!
»
» This is (a further IMPORTANT) missing puzzle piece in the (hair
» loss-)reasearch-world I tried to find - for support of other researchers
» claims/observation/research in the past.

It seems to me that this study demonstrates that stemcell therapy as a treatment for hairloss might not be the big revolutionary treatment that some people are hoping it will be.

But what do you think Ironman, do you think that this study supports the idea that growth factor treatments will be beneficial for us?

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Cotsarelis strikes again…DECADES!!!

“Taking something from the lab to the clinic often takes decades, so there’s no treatment around the corner,” Cotsarelis cautioned. “It’s really going to take quite a while to figure this out.”

http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20110104/hl_hsn/stemcelldefectmighthelpspurcommonbaldness

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» Cotsarelis strikes again…DECADES!!!
»
» “Taking something from the lab to the clinic often takes decades, so
» there’s no treatment around the corner,” Cotsarelis cautioned. “It’s really
» going to take quite a while to figure this out.”
»
»
»
» http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20110104/hl_hsn/stemcelldefectmighthelpspurcommonbaldness

Yes, it will take awhile to get all the finite details sorted out, but I don’t think that all the finite details have to be figured out in order to cure hair loss.

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» …, but I
» don’t think that all the finite details have to be figured out in order to
» cure hair loss.

Correct.

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What are your thought’s on Follica as a whole man? . . do you think they will be looking to bring somehing to market before 2013?

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» What are your thought’s on Follica as a whole man? . . do you think they
» will be looking to bring somehing to market before 2013?

2013? Defiantly not! You guys love to be overly optimistic… they just started their trails… theres no way in hell that they will be able to market a product in the next 5 years.

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» What are your thought’s on Follica as a whole man? . . do you think they
» will be looking to bring somehing to market before 2013?

I know I’m not Ironman but i think that the study suggests that putting your hopes on stem cell therapy to treat hair loss is a bad idea because this study demonstrates that the balding scalp has sufficient stem cells but the scalp is still balding anyway. This seems to indicate that adding stem cells to the balding scalp will not be beneficial so this study appears to be negative in connection with the idea of stem cells to reverse hair loss.

On the other hand, I haven’t decided yet if this study does, or doesn’t, suggest that growth factors will, or won’t, be helpful. Off the top of my head I would say that this study does NOT appear to suggest anything negative about the idea of using growth factors to reverse hairloss.

While this study does damage the hopes of the people hoping to use stem cells to treat hair loss this study does not appear to damage the hopes of people hoping to use growth factors to reverse hairloss.

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» What are your thought’s on Follica as a whole man? . . do you think they
» will be looking to bring somehing to market before 2013?

I know it is hard (for layman’s) to believe that, but e.g. Dr. George Cotsarelis, through his studies (inluding this NEW published study), just CONFIRM what TODAY some doctors (e.g. Cooley/Hitzig/Gho etc) already accomplish in their DAILY life & praxis (in simple words). That means, all such scientific studies just CONFIRM (even some of these doctors can’t find for themselves an accurate explanation for their ‘breakthoughs’) what they claimed in the past, until now.

Or in even more simple words:
All such scientific studies, just scientifically confirm/support the discovered “accidents” in the daily praxis from e.g. Dr. Hitzig’s observations or e.g. Dr. Cooley’s own observations (‘anecdotal reports’ from their daily praxis & “unwritten studies” ).

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» » What are your thought’s on Follica as a whole man? . . do you think they
» » will be looking to bring somehing to market before 2013?
»
» I know I’m not Ironman but i think that the study suggests that putting
» your hopes on stem cell therapy to treat hair loss is a bad idea because
» this study demonstrates that the balding scalp has sufficient stem cells
» but the scalp is still balding anyway. This seems to indicate that adding
» stem cells to the balding scalp will not be beneficial so this study
» appears to be negative in connection with the idea of stem cells to reverse
» hair loss.
»
» On the other hand, I haven’t decided yet if this study does, or doesn’t,
» suggest that growth factors will, or won’t, be helpful. Off the top of my
» head I would say that this study does NOT appear to suggest anything
» negative about the idea of using growth factors to reverse hairloss.
»
» While this study does damage the hopes of the people hoping to use stem
» cells to treat hair loss this study does not appear to damage the hopes of
» people hoping to use growth factors to reverse hairloss.

You don’t seem to be understanding that these obviously are not embryonic (pluripotent) stem cells… they are adult stem cells (previously differentiated stem cells)… It’s not a matter of having the right amount of stem cells, its a matter of having the right KIND of stem cells at the recipient site. The residing cells are programmed not to form follicular units in adult life, while the donor cells are not.

for this reason that Aderans is therefor multiplying donor stem-cells and implanting them to the recipient site in order for them to differentiate with disregard to DHT.

One thing we can say for sure however, is that the frequency of such announcements has shown a dramatic increase over the last few months… this is an incredibly good sign that there seems to be some movement in the field of HM… as Iron Man stated below… these events seem to be all be related to the same fundamental issues.

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Brief Summary

English.news.cn 2011-01-05 06:19:23

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) – A newly identified stem cell defect may be an underlying cause of male-pattern baldness, U.S. researchers have found.

The defect, a cellular malfunction, short-circuits the process by which hair follicle stem cells turn into hair-producing progenitor cells, according to researchers at the University of Pennsylvania.

The malfunction sparks the onset of androgenetic alopecia, the medical term for a type of genetic hair loss that affects both men and women, the researchers said.

In men, this hair loss is commonly known as male pattern baldness, marked by the familiar receding hairline and thinning hair on top of the head – a condition that sometimes leads to complete baldness. In women, female-pattern hair loss causes the hair to get thinner all over but rarely leads to baldness, the researchers explained.

The findings were published Jan. 4 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

In people who are bald, hair follicles have shrunken and become microscopic, said study researcher Dr. George Cotsarelis, a professor of dermatology at the university.

“Previously we thought the stem cells were gone, and if that was the case it would be very difficult. But because they are present it should be possible to treat,” he said.

The new study shows that bald people have the same number of stem cells as those with hair. So if scientists could coax the stem cells into producing more hair follicle progenitor cells, then it would be possible to generate bigger hair follicles that could grow hair, according to Cotsarelis.

Cotsarelis and his colleagues analyzed skin cells from the bald and non-bald parts of the scalp of people with androgenetic alopecia, the technical name for male-pattern baldness.

They ran the scalp cells through a machine that tagged each cell with a marker. By using different markers to distinguish between stem cells and hair follicle progenitor cells, scientists were able to count the number of each type.

They found there were the same number of stem cells in the skin from bald scalps as there were in the skin from the non-bald scalps. However there were fewer hair follicle progenitor cells in the skin from the bald scalps than the skin from the non-bald scalps.

In other words, baldness was occurring because the stem cells were unable to complete their normal development and become hair follicle progenitor cells.

The discovery gives hope that people who are bald could regrow their hair with a future treatment, said Cotsarelis.

Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/health/2011-01/05/c_13676621.htm

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» They found there were the same number of stem cells in the skin from
» bald scalps as there were in the skin from the non-bald scalps. However
» there were fewer hair follicle progenitor cells in the skin from the
» bald scalps than the skin from the non-bald scalps.

2879_image276.jpg695×551

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Iron man - you may be a prick to a large number of people including me but you are one of the BEST information researchers by far on this board.

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Does anyone know how Dr. Hitzig determined that the Acell is causing adult stem cells to convert to progenitor cells? Has this been documented in a scientific manner or is he just speculating that this is what may be happening?

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» Does anyone know how Dr. Hitzig determined that the Acell is causing adult
» stem cells to convert to progenitor cells? Has this been documented in a
» scientific manner or is he just speculating that this is what may be
» happening?

Dr. Stephen Badylak (ACell investigator ) – an interviewer reports: “He [Dr. Badylak] can’t fully explain why the scaffolds [e.g. ACell] do what they do, and until he can explain that, he cannot manipulate the technology to grow back entire digits or organs. He’s getting there, but he’s not there yet.
Still, the scaffolds have already been used in more than a million patients to regrow cartilage in sports injuries, rebuild urethras, and repair hernias, and Badylak’s lab will start testing the technology on human esophagi soon.”

Dr. Steven Wolf (ACell investigator): “Organ cells produce ECM, which serves as a connective matrix for the individual cells making the whole part. It also seems to signal to surrounding cells – in a process that remains a mystery to scientists – when and at what rate to grow.
Wolf said as research continues to provide more answers about the way ECM and human cells combine and regenerate organs, many more questions come up, giving researchers and commercial investors more opportunities to provide solutions and refine the process.”

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» » Does anyone know how Dr. Hitzig determined that the Acell is causing
» adult
» » stem cells to convert to progenitor cells? Has
» this been documented in a
» » scientific manner or is he just speculating
» that this is what may be
» » happening?
»
» http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3njZkP_3N48
»
» Dr. Stephen Badylak (ACell investigator ) – an interviewer reports:
» “He [Dr. Badylak] can’t fully explain why the
» scaffolds [e.g. ACell] do what they do, and until he can explain that, he
» cannot manipulate the technology to grow back entire digits or organs. He’s
» getting there, but he’s not there yet.
» Still, the scaffolds have already been used in more than a million
» patients to regrow cartilage in sports injuries, rebuild urethras, and
» repair hernias, and Badylak’s lab will start testing the technology on
» human esophagi soon.”

Thanks for the information, much appreciated.

It would be fantastic if the PRP/Acell combination works well. I’m ready to do something, but, won’t jump in on this until i see conclusive documentation that it works better than just PRP alone. Hopefully will know that within a year’s time.

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»
» Thanks for the information, much appreciated.
»
» It would be fantastic if the PRP/Acell combination works well. I’m ready
» to do something, but, won’t jump in on this until i see conclusive
» documentation that it works better than just PRP alone. Hopefully will
» know that within a year’s time.

I’m still not sure if they’re trying the Acell+PRP mix as a stand alone treatment, I think it should be the first thing to test, not in conjuction with transplants which is what it looks like they’re doing. If the Acell+PRP mix works to a certain extent without transplants, we then need to see if it’s compoundable, if it is we shouldn’t need to have any transplants.

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» »
» » Thanks for the information, much appreciated.
» »
» » It would be fantastic if the PRP/Acell combination works
» well. I’m ready
» » to do something, but, won’t jump in on this until i see conclusive
» » documentation that it works better than just PRP alone. Hopefully will
» » know that within a year’s time.
»
» I’m still not sure if they’re trying the Acell+PRP mix as a stand alone
» treatment, …

I could give you ‘groundbreaking’ answers (fully scientifically supported) concerning your questions/thoughts, but if I would, this could knock off the socks from some hair scientists - and especially the ones from some HT doctors (the ones, who actually do not know what they do since years) …

But some guys here say I’m an asshole. So, why should I disappoint them? :slight_smile:

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Come on knock their socks off ASSHOLE… :smiley: