New Hair Loss Treatment Considered A Miracle?
Hair loss treatment provides hope for many
Imagine a hair loss condition that affects approximately 5.3 million people and a hair loss treatment that can potentially help a large percentage of the same people. There is no absolute cure and no effective treatments, aside from painful steroid injections to the scalp that do not always work.
Alopecia Areata (AA), the most common autoimmune disease in humans, second only to male pattern baldness. It attacks hair follicles and causes people to lose their hair, but some recent breakthroughs are giving many hope. The researchers at Columbia University Medical Center believe they have found the genetic basis of AA, which could ultimately lead to the cure for this condition.
Researchers originally thought Alopecia Areata was related to inflammatory diseases, such as psoriasis, where a particular cell attacks the skin, but research revealed that AA is typically caused by celiac disease, rheumatoid arthritis and type 1 diabetes. These new discoveries could make it easier to formulate new treatments for the condition, in which loss can range from patches on the scalp to complete absence of hair on the entire body
Out of the five facilities researching AA nationwide Columbia University uncovered eight genes that strengthen alopecia areata. Among the eight genes, one stands out for its potential role in the origin of the disorder. “This research is very exciting as alopecia areata affects a huge number of people worldwide,” said Vicki Kalabokes, president and CEO of the National Alopecia Areata Foundation . “Hair loss is life-altering – sufferers, especially children, experience social stigma. It affects their quality of life and can lead to long-term psychosocial impact.”
Scientists looked at over 1000 samples for a correlation between how many genes people with different severities of alopecia areata carried, and found that people who carried 13-14 genes had the disease that did not progress, while those with 16 or more most often progressed to alopecia universalis, or total baldness.
With this new data, Columbia researchers are developing a genetic test that may eventually predict the severity of disease. Many new drugs are already in the development process since these finding and some are even on the market for the same gene targets.
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