Researchers from the Columbia University Medical Center in New York have reportedly identified eight genes which cause the hair loss condition alopecia areata, in a discovery which may pave the way for new, more effective treatments.
Alopecia areata affects both men and women, and has a surprisingly large number of sufferers throughout the world. It causes small patches of hair to fall out, often taking years to grow back. The condition sometimes develops into alopecia totalis (total scalp hair loss) and even alopecia universalis (full body hair loss).
The latest breakthrough by biomedical researchers at Columbia have linked the condition to eight genes, finding that they are the same as those associated with other autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes.
Doctor Angela Christiano, the senior researcher on the new study and also an alopecia areata sufferer, studied the genes of over 1,000 people with the condition, comparing their genetic makeup to that of over 3,200 non-sufferers. As well as identifying the eight genes, she also found that the more genes each sufferer carried, the more serious their condition was likely to be.
Implications
Speaking of the implications of the study’s findings, Dr Christiano explained how treatments that are already being developed for other auto-immune diseases could be used as a hair loss treatment. She said:
“Finally, we have the possibility of developing drugs that specifically target the mechanism behind the disease.”