More than 40 percent of men in the U.S. will show signs of male-pattern baldness sometime between the ages of 18 and 49. But studies looking at the genomes of this group of men have failed to turn up a genetic cause, which makes a true cure seem an unlikely prospect.  

Treatments for male-pattern baldness, also known as androgenic alopecia, may be forthcoming, however. Recent work is homing in on three types, including one that was reported in March in the journal Science. In the new paper, George Cotsarelis of the University of Pennsylvania and his team found that a compound known as prostaglandin D2 (PD2) was elevated in the blood of men with male-pattern baldness. When they blocked PD2 receptors in mice, they ensured that the hair did not stop growing. Those blockers could be applied topically, Cotsarelis says.

He is also working on growing new hair. Researchers have noticed that if you wound a mouse, the animal generates new hair follicles as part of the healing process. The new follicles come from skin cells that turn into hair follicles through what is called the Wnt-mediated signaling pathway. It is the same pathway that helps you generate new hairs naturally as they fall out. Cotsarelis is working with a company to replicate that process.

A third approach, called follicular neogenesis, would allow doctors to remove, multiply and then reimplant the stem cells found inside a person’s hair follicles. So far, though, when researchers remove the stem cells and culture them, the cells appear to “forget” they were ever hair cells. Researchers are now attempting to figure out how to restore their “memory.”

As scientists continue to search for treatments to androgenic alopecia, they recommend patience. “People think of it like growing grass or something, but it’s nothing like that,” Cotsarelis says. “It’s like trying to treat cancer; it’s a complicated process.”

This article was published in print as "It's Not "Like Growing Grass"."

9 Comments

1. 1. lamorpa 08:36 AM 6/8/12

   The solution to male pattern baldness is to just have baldness. It's a simple, low-cost 'solution'. Some people are short, some people are genetically per-disposed to being obese, some people have chronic diseases. Baldness is a benign, cosmetic condition. Live with it, and stop burdening the medical system and your finances (that could be put toward worthy charities), for what is basically vanity. Cut your hair short and the hairless parts will not stand out.

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

2. 2. thewhigs 08:55 AM 6/8/12

   "Live with it"? That's not your right to say who should "live with it".
   
   "Burdening the medical system"? How is it "burdening" the medical system?
   
   It's people's choices and their right to have/find/pay for a potential treatment for androgenic alopecia.
   
   Also, while doing research on a.alopecia, scientists might find treatment(s)/cures for disease(s) not even remotely related to a.alopecia.
   
   Also,this only increases our knowledge of human physiology, human genetics, biochemistry, etc.
   
   

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

3. 3. lamorpa in reply to thewhigs 09:25 AM 6/8/12

   I'm not sure if the 'it might find cures for other things' excuse is more convenient or simply self-serving. One can be sure that research directed directly at life threatening conditions themselves would be more effective for finding cures for them.
   
   You can be sure that no small irony is found by most people that one of the side effects of Rogaine (look young and virile!) is erectile dysfunction. Sounds like a self defeating cycle.
   
   I did not say the research was pointless, I said resources could be better directed by both researchers and (ultimately) product buyers, for this purely cosmetic condition.

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

4. 4. promytius 09:51 AM 6/8/12

   lamorpa, while you're right, the point is missed by science; for them it is ways to make money, and 'curing' a natural condition is top of the list.

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

5. 5. JamesDavis in reply to lamorpa 09:54 AM 6/8/12

   Pimples are purely a cosmetic condition - some people have them and some people do not; do you want those people to just live with the condition? Thanks to medical science, pimples are no longer a condition you just have to live with. And thanks to medical science, baldness will not be a condition that people will just have to live with. And wanting to have hair on your head is not vanity, it is what our bodies use to protect its self from solar radiation and to keep the Sun's heat from cooking our brains.

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

6. 6. lamorpa in reply to JamesDavis 10:54 AM 6/8/12

   JD: Good points. I stand corrected. The free market is what it is. If money is to be made, I'm not going to stand in the way. I'm still surprised how much trouble people go to for cosmetic problems. I have arthritis in my feet. I was offered Celebrex by an orthopedist, but instead, I opted to simply have pain in my feet and not get too wound up about it.

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

7. 7. Geopelia 11:47 PM 6/8/12

   Why not scalp transplants?

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

8. 8. Witan 10:55 PM 6/12/12

   You might just as well say acne or common cold are conditions you can live with. Also, all men should stop shaving or having haircuts, combing or brushing their hair, stop using body deodorants, and so on.

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

9. 9. pavellabel 08:43 AM 9/28/12

   I'm not sure if the 'it might find cures for other things' excuse is more convenient or simply self-serving. One can be sure that research directed directly at life threatening conditions themselves would be more effective for finding cures for them. Regards, <a href="http://www.auto-rent.ro/rent-a-car/cluj.html">Car hire Cluj</a>

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this