HAIRY HOPE FOR BALDIES!
Tiny bio-switch may activate follicles to start growing again
ATTENTION chrome domes! A single molecule may be all that’s standing in the way of regrowing your hair! Scientists at the University of California, Irvine discovered the SCUBE3 molecule is a “potent hair-growth trigger” and say it could be a game changer for treating baldness! In lab experiments, SCUBE3 sparked hair growth in dormant mouse follicles — and human follicles grafted onto rodents!
That is important because hair follicles in most people who are bald still have the basic setup to sprout new strands, says UCI’s Dr. Maksim Plikus. Follicles have stem cells at their base which contribute toward producing hair. But in people who have lost their crowning glory — or have thinning locks — some or all of those cells aren’t working. “When it comes to growing hairs, follicle stem cells need to become activated,” explains Plikus. “Most people when they lose their hair wonder if the follicles are gone. They are there, but they are dormant. “The reason they are inactive is they are not hearing signaling molecules.” That’s where SCUBE3 comes in, say the researchers. It is the messenger which tells stem cells to divide to grow hair.
In the mouse experiments, it took just one month for the human follicle transplants to begin sprouting hair.
And they kept producing new hair without continual reintroduction of SCUBE3 — a big difference from current hair-loss treatments which require daily pills or lotions. Only small amounts of SCUBE3 were needed to activate dormant human hair follicles. Plikus believes if the treatment is successful in people, the therapy would only need to be repeated two or three times a year to maintain its effects.
He says SCUBE3 could potentially cause hair growth for those who’ve gone bald due to the autoimmune disease alopecia areata. Researchers hope to soon launch a Phase 1 clinical trial, using large-scale animal safety studies to prove SCUBE3 can help grow hair without bad side effects. “We believe chances are pretty good, since this is a naturally occurring molecule,” says Plikus. “It’s pretty exciting.”