Scientists have made a breakthrough discovery for exciting hair growth. A latest study has found the key to hair growth is within the hairy skin moles, a finding that could possibly be potentially utilized in treating baldness.

Androgenetic alopecia, also referred to as male-pattern baldness, is a genetic condition that involves the progressive thinning of hair follicles, making the hair finer and strands shorter over time. Alopecia starts in men with a receding hairline to form a characteristic “M” shape, which progresses to partial or complete baldness. In women, the condition doesn’t cause receding hairline but causes overall thinning.

In the most recent study, researchers from the University of California, Irvine, discovered the mechanism by which hair grows inside skin moles called nevi. The team found that the molecules osteopontin and CD44 can stimulate robust hair growth in hairy skin nevi.

In line with the researchers, the mechanism by which aged or senescent cells within the skin moles make significant hair growth offers a road map for developing latest molecular therapies to treat androgenetic alopecia.

“We found that senescent pigment cells produce large quantities of a particular signaling molecule called osteopontin, which causes normally dormant and diminutive hair follicles to activate their stem cells for the robust growth of long and thick hairs,” said Maksim Plikus, a lead corresponding writer of the study. “Senescent cells are typically viewed as detrimental to regeneration and are thought to drive the aging process as they accumulate in tissues throughout the body, but our research clearly shows that cellular senescence has a positive side to it.”

Researchers evaluated mice models with pigmented skin spots that resembled human hairy skin nevi. They found the molecular interaction between osteopontin and CD44 activated the hair stem cells, leading to robust hair growth.

The team further confirmed the role of osteopontin and CD44 by evaluating mouse models that lacked either one among these genes and located that they’d significantly slower hair growth.

Osteopontin has been known for its functions in wound healing, tissue remodeling and inhibition of bone mineralization. Nonetheless, it was not known that it could stimulate hair growth.

Researchers are planning to check the ends in clinical trials. In the long run, osteopontin and other hair-growing proteins could possibly be potentially utilized in botox-like treatment for hair growth.

“Our findings provide qualitatively latest insights into the connection between senescent cells and tissue’s own stem cells and reveal positive effects of senescent cells on hair follicle stem cells. As we learn more, that information can potentially be harnessed to develop latest therapies that concentrate on properties of senescent cells and treat a big selection of regenerative disorders, including common hair loss,” first and co-corresponding writer Xiaojie Wang said.

Published by Medicaldaily.com