“It’s so bad” Will ‘hair loss’ really be solved even if I eat and apply it?
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More and more Koreans are suffering from hair loss. In Korea, over a quarter of those in their 30s were found to have hair loss. Hair loss is largely divided into androgenetic alopecia related to male hormones and alopecia areata due to stress, and most men who suffer from hair loss are androgenic alopecia. The number of women suffering from hair loss is also on the rise.
The most common treatment for hair loss is medication. Currently, the most used products are minoxidil and propecia. It has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Minoxidil was originally introduced to the world in 1970 as a treatment for hypertension. After that, as a side effect of hirsutism was reported, it was reviewed as a hair growth treatment. Initially, clinical trials were conducted as an oral drug, but as low blood pressure appeared as a side effect, it entered clinical trials in the form of an application in 1984.
Propecia is a hair loss inhibitor. The male hormone that directly affects hair loss is hadrotestosterone (DHT), a change in testosterone. At this time, ‘5-α reductase 2’ is involved, and Propecia prevents hair loss by inhibiting this enzyme. Clinical data of Propecia showed that hair growth effect and status could be maintained for up to 1 year after taking the drug.
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However, both drugs are ineffective and insignificant for advanced hair loss, but side effects such as erectile dysfunction and decreased libido were reported in about 1.2% of the drugs taken. In fact, there are limits to hair loss treatment.
However, recently, research on hair loss treatment by regenerating hair follicles is a hot topic. Unlike existing hair loss treatments, it can be applied to advanced hair loss, so it is expected that it will be possible to treat baldness as well.
A research team led by Professor Choi Kang-yeol of the Department of Biotechnology at Yonsei University found ‘CXXC5’, a protein that inhibits hair growth, and published a paper on the effect of hair growth using it in an international academic journal in the field of dermatology.
The research team found that the CXXC5 protein binds to a protein called dechevaldra and inhibits the activity of the ‘Wnt signaling system’. The research team opened the possibility of a hair growth treatment by designing a peptide called PTD-DBM that binds to the deshebald protein like CXXC5. The principle is that PTD-DBM binds to the dechebald protein instead of the CXXC5 protein and inhibits the action of CXXC5. Here, valproic acid, a winter activator, was injected to increase the hair growth effect. As a result of testing this on human hair follicle cells, it was found that the increase in ‘beta-catenin and hair formation markers, which are important for actual signal transduction, was maximized.
It has also been shown to affect not only hair growth but also hair follicle regeneration. The research team removed a part of the epidermis, the outermost skin layer of mice, and then treated them with PTD-DBM and valproic acid. As a result, it was confirmed that hair was created as cells were regenerated.
The research team said, “Unlike existing hair loss drugs, peptides do not have side effects due to male hormone suppression.
Research results were also published to prevent hair loss by inhibiting the aging of hair follicle stem cells. An international joint research team from Japan, the United States, and the Netherlands conducted an experiment on mice, and confirmed that the mice started losing hair and their hair thinned from 17 months of age. At this time, it was discovered that the gene ‘COL17A1’, which maintains the number of hair follicle stem cells that makes hair, is also damaged with aging. The research team engineered a gene to create a mutant mouse that produced a large amount of the COL17A1 protein. As a result, unlike normal mice, mutant mice did not lose hair even after 17 months and maintained abundant hair. It opens up the possibility of preventing hair loss due to aging.
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In 2015, a research team led by Professor Angela Cristiano of Columbia University in the United States reported that hair growth effects can be achieved by converting hair follicle stem cells that have entered the resting phase into the growth phase by inhibiting the ‘JAK-STAT signaling system’ pathway. introduced
There are various causes of hair loss, but in principle, it is largely due to the lack of blood supply to the hair follicles where hair grows and grows. This means that blood circulation is important. As we all know, the main cause of blood circulation disorders is stress. So, put your worries aside and leave the hair loss treatment to the researchers. It is more beneficial for life and for hair loss.
Written by: Hwa-Young Lee, Science Columnist
nbgkoo@heraldcorp.com
