Baldness Archives

curing baldness with adult stem cells

From new issue of Discover magazine, The Year in Science, top 100 stories, pg 33:

The cure for baldness may be imminent. A Rockefeller University research team led by biologist Elaine Fuchs reported last September that they had coaxed adult stem cells to grow hair. When grafted onto bald mice, the cells produced not only furry tufts, but stretches of skin complete with the oil-producing glands that help keep it supple as well. "Essentially,you'd put down a forest rather than plant tree by tree," says Fuchs. Earlier work hinted that sin follicles harbor stem cells kept in reserve to replace epidermal cells when they die. "The critical question was whether there really is a cell that can do it all-epidermis,hair,sebaceous glands," says Fuchs. "And now we know that we really have a bonafide stem cell." That means curing baldness could be just the beginning. "Maybe these stem cells could do other things, "says Fuchs. "Maybe they could make corneas for the treatment of blindness."
The full potential of various stem cells found in adults is still unknown. "It's just PRESUMED that they have fewer capabilities than embryonic stem cells,"says Bill Lowry, a coauthor of the study. But, he adds, harvesting adult stem cells from skin has one clear benefit: "It's such an easily accessible source."
by Aaron J Sender

more on this from MSN:


Stem Cell Research

Stem cells may treat baldness, burn victims
Researchers involved in mice study used adult cells
Updated: 5:51 p.m. ET Sept. 2, 2004WASHINGTON - Master cells found deep inside hair follicles might offer a new way to treat baldness and burn victims, U.S. researchers reported Thursday.

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So far the cells have only been found in mice but there is no reason to believe they do not also exist in humans, the team at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and The Rockefeller University in New York said.

The cells, known as stem cells, replace not only hair but also stretches of skin and sebaceous glands, key to healthy skin and hair, the researchers report in this week’s issue of the journal Cell.

Researchers used adult stem cells
In this case the stem cells the researchers found are adult stem cells -- immature master cells that retain the ability to change their “type” to some degree.

They are different from stem cells taken from embryos, a more controversial source.

“We’ve identified cells within skin that bear all the characteristics of true stem cells -- the ability for self-renewal and the multipotency required to differentiate into all lineages of epidermis and hair,” said Elaine Fuchs, a cell biologist at Rockefeller who led the study.

“This is the first work that indicates a single skin stem cell can generate both epidermis and hair, even after propagation in the lab,” she added.

Fuchs and colleagues now want to look for similar hair follicle stem cells in people.

“With debate about the cells’ multipotency within skin tissue settled, we can now ask whether the stem cells can also make other cell types in addition to hair and skin,” Rockefeller’s William Lowry said in a statement.

“These results open the door to that possibility.”

The stem cells multiplied well in laboratory dishes and when the researchers grafted the cells onto the backs of bald mice, they grew tufts of hair and skin.

Previous work had used genetic manipulation to find the stem cells in the mice but Fuchs and colleagues found a better way to identify the scarce stem cells.

“We found that the surface of the skin stem cells was different than the other cells of the skin, enabling us to use two different antibodies to sort them out from the other skin cells,” said Lowry. “No one had been able to isolate stem cells from the hair follicle in this way before.”

Copyright 2004 Reuters Limited.

MORE FROM STEM CELL RESEARCH
Stem Cell Research Section Front
• Stem cells offer treatment for incontinence ( adult stem cells from self)• Wisconsin announces stem-cell funding• California moving ahead with stem-cell plans• Calif. measure fuels stem-cell gold rush• What does Bush's victory mean for stem cells?• California gives go-ahead to stem-cell research• Stem cells deliver cancer drug to tumors• Calif. governor endorses stem cell research• Scientists, patients fight U.N. stem cell ban• Harvard seeks to clone human embryos• Stem Cell Research Section Front

© 2004 Microsoft Corporation.

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