利用幹細胞可望治療禿頭 @董哥的家 iwanthair's blog

5月16日在英國的『自然』期刊上，刊登一則關於最新治療禿頭的研究，
這篇研究的主題是『利用自己的皮膚細胞，就可以喚醒毛囊再生新髮』，
以下節錄了一些媒體報導與刊登在『自然』期刊上的原文，提供給大家參考。

雖然從研究到真正成為一種安全的療法，是需要一段時間的，但還是期盼研究的腳步能夠快一些的~^_^

禿頭福音！　幹細胞療法3個月生新髮
ETTODAY 許瑜菁／編譯 2007/05/17

禿頭不是病，但對於許多男性來說，禿頭還真是要人命。不過現在有一個好消息，英國【自然】期刊最近刊登一篇研究報告，指出可以利用幹細胞來恢復毛髮的生長，而且過程只要3個月，就能長出自然的頭髮。

哥倫比亞的傳說中，只要讓牛伸出舌頭，在人類的頭上舔個幾下，就能讓光禿禿的頭頂，長出烏溜溜的頭髮。不過現在可不用這麼麻煩了，英國【自然】期刊最近刊出一篇報告，指出可以利用基因療法，來幫助毛髮生長。

美國賓州大學利用老鼠進行研究，發現動物皮膚受傷後，毛囊可以自然重生，並且還會長出毛髮。而科學家研發出來全新的生髮之道，就是先移除直徑1到2.5公分的頭皮，然後注射藥物喚醒幹細胞長出新的毛囊。根據實驗結果，只要3個月毛髮就會自然長出，而且跟原來的毛髮完全沒有分別。雖然說十個禿子九個富，但不論如何，禿頭總是一個尷尬的話題，讓許多男性煩惱不已。而現在這個新研發，就是希望利用幹細胞生髮的技術，讓許多童山濯濯的男性枯木又逢春。

把基因「喚醒」禿頭可長髮
人間福報 2007/05/18

【本報綜合報導】頭皮上約有十萬個毛囊，每個毛囊可長一根頭髮。科學界以往認為，毛囊是在懷孕初期的胚胎時期形成，此後一輩子都無法再生。但美國賓州大學醫學院研究人員發現，「喚醒」一個稱作wnt的基因，就可使成年老鼠重新長出毛囊。這是科學界首度發現哺乳類和兩棲類，一樣具有再生能力的明確證據，控制wnt的技術純熟後，可用來治療禿頭和皮膚疤痕。

賓州大學醫學院皮膚科副教授柯薩瑞利斯，用老鼠研究皮膚癒合，意外發現wnt基因和毛囊的製造息息相關。研究人員把成年老鼠的一小部分表皮割除後，割除區域出現類似幹細胞活動的現象，包括毛囊再生。如果抑制wnt的功能，毛囊就不會再生；相反的，加強wnt作用的話，再生的毛囊增加一倍，而新長出的皮膚和周遭皮膚看不出差異。

柯薩瑞利斯表示，我們可以利用wnt影響皮膚創傷的癒合，使得皮膚癒合後不會只留下疤痕，而是出現正常皮膚的結構，包括毛囊和油脂腺。wnt基因技術不但可治療雄性禿、防止皮膚傷口形成疤痕，也可用來治療毛髮過度生長的問題。他表示，順利的話，預計五到十年內可研發出讓毛囊再生的藥物。

毛囊可再生治禿頭有望
蘋果日報 2007/05/18

【蔡佳慧╱綜合外電報導】髮際線隨年齡增長而向後狂退，實在讓人膽顫心驚。不過，好消息來了，美國科學家透過老鼠實驗，宣布首度成功讓毛囊「再生」的突破性研究成果。未來這項技術將可用來治療禿頭，甚至是解決面皰等問題。

賓州大學醫學院研究人員在《自然》（Nature）期刊上發表最新研究，指稱成年哺乳類動物的皮膚細胞仍可以自然「再生」出毛囊，原理是透過喚醒一系列沉睡的基因，促使幹細胞集中於無毛髮的皮膚區域，幹細胞之後會形成毛囊細胞，使皮膚長出毛髮。

此外，科學家更發現，若在皮膚上注射一種名為Wnt的蛋白質，可讓毛囊數量倍增。相反地，抑制該蛋白質則將停止新毛囊生長。研究主要作者柯斯特撒利斯醫師說：「我們發現透過Wnt可影響傷口癒合，不僅傷疤小還會長出正常的皮膚結構，如毛囊和油脂腺。」
這項結果給醫界帶來大震撼。過去醫界普遍認為，成年哺乳類動物只擁有固定數量的毛囊，失去了就無法再生新的。

Published online: 16 May 2007

Skin’s own cells could beat baldness — Research on mice raises hopes for regrowing hair.

Initiating the same process that happens after wound healing could spout new hairs.

Skin may have the capacity to regenerate lost hair follicles from within, according to a new discovery that could yield better treatments for baldness or abnormal hair growth. Researchers in the United States have found that, when skin is wounded, epidermal cells can respond by assuming the properties of stem cells that generate hair follicles and growing new hair.

The researchers removed patches of skin from mice and studied the wounds as they healed during the ensuing weeks. As they report in this week’s Nature¹, cells that had not initially been associated with hair follicles began to express genes found in the stem cells that give rise to follicles during development. Hair growth occurred regardless of the mouse’s age, the researchers report, although the new hairs did not contain pigment.

That’s what happens in mice, report George Cotsarelis and his team at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia. If the same is true of human skin, the research raises the possibility that older men with established baldness could be successfully restored to their former hirsute glory.

The process happened naturally after wounding. But the researchers found they could boost the effect by using mice that had been genetically engineered to produce higher levels of proteins that activate the genetic pathway underpinning the transformation to follicle stem cells. These mice responded to wounding by producing twice the density of hairs found in the coats of normal, untreated mice.

Cotsarelis and his colleagues now hope to mimic this for human skin. They envisage a treatment similar to the ‘dermabrasion’ used to treat skin scarred by teenage acne — a process that uses gentle damage to encourage wound healing processes — combined with a topical cream to activate the genetic pathway.

“It’s all preliminary at the moment,” says Cotsarelis, who has helped to set up a company, Follica, that will attempt to bring the idea to market. “If it all went perfectly then possibly in two to three years we would have a product, but that’s very optimistic.”

Hair today, gone tomorrow

Previously, it was generally accepted that hair follicles cannot be regrown after a person reaches adulthood, meaning that once they are lost — through skin damage or the baldness-promoting effects of some hormones — they are gone forever.

Although experts first suggested that follicle regrowth might be possible half a century ago, no one had ever proved the cells’ regenerative capability.

The fact that it occurs as a result of skin damage might explain why the process has taken so long to find and verify, Cotsarelis reflects. “Most people studying skin wounding don’t pay a lot of attention to hair follicles,” he says. “They view wound closure as the end-point.”

The discovery opens up new insights into how skin functions. The research “provides convincing evidence that the skin has remarkable powers of regeneration, not just repair,” says Desmond Tobin, a cell biologist at the University of Bradford, UK.

But baldness treatments will be the inevitable focus of further research in this area.

No more toupees

Current baldness treatments include minoxidil, which expands blood vessels in the scalp; anti-androgens, which attempt to minimize the ravages of testosterone and its related hormones; and hair-follicle transplants.

Using these existing treatments is “a long and slow process”, says Carol Michaelides, a consultant at the Philip

Kingsley Trichological Clinic in London. What’s more, the chances of success diminish both with age and with the degree of hair thinning. “The accepted baseline is 30 hairs per square centimetre,” says Michaelides. A healthy head will boast many hundreds of hairs in the same area of scalp.

Another area of research currently being pursued is the idea of transplanting follicular stem cells into the scalp from another source, although this approach is also several years from the clinic, Michaelides says. But if the scalp can be induced to create its own new follicles, it would be “a huge step forward”, she adds.

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