Almost daily, the news channels report substantive breakthroughs in advancing human health. New drugs, new approaches using molecular tools such as stem cells, and other 21st Century techniques herald an apparently endless stream of medical miracles. But what about garden variety common pattern hair loss? It's almost 2012. So where's the cure?
To begin, it is important to recognize the limitations researchers face in sorting out the pieces of the pattern hair loss puzzle. First limitation, no animal model. Unlike numerous diseases, ranging from cardiovascular disease to diabetes to Alzheimer's, there simply is no animal model for common pattern hair loss.
Some of the most important breakthroughs in human disease have occurred as a result of work undertaken on animal models. This is not going to happen in pattern hair loss for reasons just noted. Second limitation, pattern hair loss is a complex trait disorder. This means that there are numerous genes and other factors (biochemistry, age, circulating hormones, environment, etc.) that contribute to phenotype. It's not just one thing that causes pattern hair loss.
For precisely this reason, in our lab we have moved away from focusing on DHT/5-alpha reductase. Newly published research by our group and collaborators at University of Albany show that inflammation plays a meaningful role in the onset and progression of pattern hair loss. Other factors will be important and we are working to understand what those may be.
Third limitation, many natural substances are largely undiscovered. Most drugs cause side effects. Fortunately, naturally-derived substances are less likely to cause this problem. However, we are still very early in the process of discovering the potential benefits which may be found in naturally-sourced molecules. This is one very important part of what we do to create better therapies and treatments. Still, while safe and effective treatments constitute the best of what we're able to accomplish today, the future of hair loss research centers around finding an actual "cure".
In our next installment, we'll discuss some of the latest work being undertaken by researchers using gene-based and stem cell-based therapies, and how those technologies may well represent an actual cure for pattern hair loss.
