The holy grail of hair loss treatments is the ability to clone new hair follicles. However, despite some promising results, several obstacles must be overcome.
First, hair follicles are too complex to multiply in a test tube, and they are not whole organisms, so they cannot grow independently—fortunately, two clever scientists, Drs. Reynolds and Jahoda are on their way to solving this problem.
Stem Cells
The strands of keratin that make up your hair may seem crafted from thin air, but there is much more to the story. To create protein filaments, the body employs thousands of stem cells activated by the dermal papillae. This process is incredibly delicate, and replicating it in vitro has been difficult for scientists.
Through trial and error, researchers have managed to get close to successfully cloning healthy hair follicles. However, it’s still too early to know if this will be an effective thinning and balding hair treatment. This is because, for now, the technology needs to be perfected to produce permanent results.
Stem Cells are a type of cell that can transform into other types of cells by changing their DNA or other chemical composition. In other words, they’re the building blocks of different body tissues and can help us grow new blood cells, repair broken bones, and more. Researchers can also use these cells to develop experimental drugs to cure diseases caused by abnormal cell division.
Another benefit of stem cells is that they can be taken from the patient and used to treat their medical condition without needing a donor. This type of cell therapy is already widely used for blood cancers, which are a dangerous and potentially life-threatening condition.
Regeneration
Ultimately, the most exciting potential benefit of hair follicle cloning is that it could help reverse hair loss symptoms. This would involve the extraction of a few hair follicles from the scalp under local anesthetic, cultivating them in the laboratory to multiply them, and then reimplanting them into the scalp to stimulate natural hair growth.
The basic concept behind this procedure is that hair follicles produce a particular type of cell known as dermal papilla cells, which contain the genetic instructions necessary for creating hair. If these cells are isolated and cultured in the lab, they should be able to create new hair follicles with the same genetic makeup as the original follicles in the patient’s scalp. When the new strands are implanted into areas of the scalp with a low density of hair, they will grow and expand similarly to the original follicles in the scalp, and the patient will experience natural-looking fuller hair.
The first step in this process is to isolate a few dermal papilla cells from the patient’s scalp. These cells will then be multiplied in the lab using specialized techniques that encourage cell division. Once the number of cells has increased significantly, they will be implanted into the scalp, developing into fully functional hair follicles. This is a much less invasive treatment than traditional hair transplants, which rely on the limited supply of existing follicles in the scalp.
Growth Factors
A key factor in hair growth is the stimulation of specific proteins, called growth factors. These are released by dermal papilla cells and can be used to induce the formation of new hair follicles. In the future, this technology could be used to treat hair loss by restoring these hair follicles.
However, this process is still in its early stages, and many challenges must be overcome. For example, the cells used in hair cloning need to grow and multiply well to produce enough hair follicles. Ensuring the cloned cells do not become cancerous or cause unwanted side effects is also essential.
Another challenge is finding a way to differentiate the stem cells into follicular units. Once successfully determined, these must be reintroduced to the scalp to grow into functional hair follicles. Once again, this is an area where a lot of research occurs.
While the potential of hair cloning to cure hair loss is promising, it is likely several decades away from becoming a viable treatment option. In the meantime, many medical and surgical options are available for those who suffer from male pattern baldness. Please speak with a local hair restoration clinic specialist to learn more about these options.
Immune System
The immune system is a fantastic collaboration of cells and proteins that work together to protect against infection. It doesn’t form a single organ like the heart or liver but rather is dispersed throughout the body to provide rapid responses to infection. Cells can communicate with one another via specialized proteins called cytokines, which are released in response to a threat and act on cells nearby or at a distance.
The primary cells of the immune system are lymphocytes (T cells, B cells, and NK cells), neutrophils, and macrophages, which all belong to the white blood cell family. When an antigen is detected in the body, the immune system recognizes and destroys it. An antigen is a bacterium, fungus, virus, toxin, or foreign body. The immune system also keeps a copy of the antigen to recognize and destroy the same invader more quickly on a subsequent attack.
The NK cells help to activate the B cells and monocytes, which kill pathogens. Neutrophils and macrophages contain granules that release potent chemicals that kill pathogens and break down their structures. The lymph nodes and spleen are part of the lymphatic system, which has mucosal-associated lymphoid tissues (MALTs) and gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALTs). These tissues protect against pathogens that enter the body from the outside world and from microbes that live in our bodies.
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