KK is a 31-year-old Chinese citizen whose body is 96% covered in hair. Only the soles of your feet and hands are free of hair. He suffers from Werewolf Syndrome or Generalized Congenital Hypertrichosis (CGHT), a rare pathology, of which only 100 documented cases are known. One of the most popular dates back to the 19th century, and is that of Julia Pastrana , better known as the " bearded woman ", who spent her life exploited by a show producer who made her tour the world to showcase her strange face.
Scientist Xue Zhang and his team from the Peking Union Medical College have identified the cause of their illnesses in a series of alterations in chromosome 17 , which involve the loss of between 500,000 and 900,000 letters of DNA. As published in the latest issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics , one of the genes in the affected region, MAP2K6 , could be involved in hair growth.
The research will not only help understand, and perhaps treat, congenital hypertrichosis. It will also be useful to address other pathologies characterized by excessive hair growth or its massive loss.
