Building on earlier work at a couple of American institutes a Dutch team of scientists, while chasing a cure for ageing, have discovered a treatment that can regrow hair… and much more besides.
Teams working on anti-ageing drugs have, over the last few years, concentrated their efforts on senescent cells – these are damaged cells that build up in us all over the years. Unfortunately they are not benign, they are known to damage adjacent cells and cause the sort of chronic inflammation associated with the diseases of old age.
Notably, a team from the Scripps Institute in California discovered two compounds which selectively targeted senescent cells. Then in 2016 another team from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota used a compound which completely cleared mice of their senescent cells and in the process extended their median lifespan by 17%.
Erasmus University Team Make Crucial Discovery
The exciting progress in this area over the last couple of years has now been significantly added to by the work of a team from the Erasmus University Medical Center in the Netherlands. They identified a peptide that causes the senescent cell to go though apoptosis, the process of programmed cell death. They discovered a therapy which interrupts the communication between the two proteins thought to be responsible for senescence in cells. When that communication is blocked the cell self-destructs. The big news in this study is that the Dutch team’s peptide only attacks senescent cells.
Impressive Results
The mice on the study were given the peptide three times a week for a year. Hair growth was one of the first signs of a general improvement in the health of the mouse, it started within just ten days. After three weeks it was noted that the treated mice were able to run twice as far as the untreated ones, and after a month biomarkers signalled improved kidney function.
These are extraordinary results… who would have thought someone would show us a cure for hair loss and that would be almost the least interesting thing about it? It would seem this field of science is on the verge of some significant results that might significantly extend lifespan… and if we can live to 150 with a full head of hair so much the better! After a year the team were unable to identify any negative side-effects in any of the treated mice.
HIS Hair Clinic
Rest assured, we will continue to monitor the work done in this new field. The Dutch team are now working towards a human study so real results remain some way off, but this is research as exciting as any we have seen and we look forward to hearing more.
While we wait for the cure millions more will succumb to hair loss. If you are one of those and want to do something about it the choice can be bewildering. A meeting with one of our friendly team of experts will go a long way to helping you to understand your options. To book your free consultation simply complete the contact form at the side of this page or click here to find your nearest clinic.
