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Mice grow new hair in lab Graduate student David Van Mater and his colleagues at the University of Michigan have found that the protein -catenin triggers changes in adult mouse hair follicles that lead to the growth of new hair [Genes Dev., 17, 1219 (2003)]. -Catenin is a signaling protein involved in embryonic development and several kinds of cancer. Scientists had shown previously that -catenin and other genes play roles in the normal development of hair follicles in embryos and after birth. The new finding by the Michigan group is that brief activation of -catenin in resting hair follicles could trigger the changes needed to produce a normal hair. Van Mater got the clue in his laboratory when he noticed that mice with shaved skin treated with a chemical that switches on -catenin were growing hair instead of the tumors he had expected. Van Mater tried again. Fifteen days later, the mice needed another shave. What does this mean for bald people? Team member Andrzej A. Dlugosz says: “Our findings suggest some potential strategies for inducing hair growth, but it is premature to think these results will lead to new approaches for treating common male-pattern baldness. [Drat!] Many hair follicles in bald and balding men are greatly reduced in size, so merely reactivating hair growth would not produce a normal hair. Also, activation of -catenin in the body would need to be tightly regulated, since uncontrolled -catenin activity can lead to tumors of hair follicle cells or tumors in other sites, such as the colon, liver, or ovary.” |
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