A study of a rare genetic disease may have found a cure for gray hair and baldness, after researchers inadvertently discovered the mechanisms that lead to both hair conditions.
Scientists from the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas (USA) set out to investigate a disorder called neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), a genetic condition in which tumors grow in the nerves . The aim of the study was to discover the mechanisms behind tumor growth in NF1. However, what they found were the processes responsible for hair loss and aging, a discovery that could lead to new treatments for baldness and gray hair.
Previous studies had already determined that hair follicles contain stem cells that play a key role in hair production, and that a protein called stem cell factor (SCF ) is involved in hair pigmentation.
In their study, the experts found that once stem cells moved to the base of hair follicles, a protein called KROX20 – known for its role in nerve development – was activated in the skin cells that form the hair, known as hair progenitor cells. Thus, when KROX20 is activated, hair progenitor cells produce SCF, crucial for hair pigmentation.
In an experiment with rodents, they found that by removing the SCF protein, mice were born with gray hair , and subsequently turned white with age. By removing the KROX20-producing cells, the mice were born hairless, bald.
While hair loss and aging (graying) are considered by many to be a normal part of getting older, for others it can be distressing and psychologically debilitating.
The scientists believe their findings are promising for the development of new therapies for baldness and aging hair: “Although this project was started in an effort to understand how certain types of tumors form, we ended up learning why hair becomes gray and discovering the identity of the cell that directly gives color to the hair “, explains Lu Le, leader of the work.
The study has been published in the journal Genes and Development .
