Cure for Baldness!!!
HAIR RAISINGCure for BALDNESS is a step closer after scientists pinpoint the cells that trigger hair growth
A team in California stumbled across the immune cells' role while investigating skin health.
Scientists have stumbled across what causes people to go bald, raising hopes of new treatments.
The immune cells, known as Tregs, were thought to control inflammation.
But, now researchers believe they also triggers stem cells in the skin to promote healthy hair growth.
Without the immune cells, the scientists found stem cells cannot regenerate hair follicles, leading to baldness.
Dr Michael Rosenblum, who led the research at the University of California San Francisco, said: "Our hair follicles are constantly recycling.
"When a hair falls out the whole hair follicle has to grow back.
"This has been thought to be an entirely stem cell-dependent process.
"But it turns out Tregs are essential.
"If you knock out this one immune cell type, hair just doesn't grow."
Dr Rosenblum and his team's findings, published today in Cell, suggest defects in Tregs could be responsible for alopecia areata.
The common autoimmune disorder causes hair loss.
And the researchers added Tregs could also play a role in male pattern baldness, the most common form of hair loss.
Dr Rosenblaum's team stumbled upon the role Tregs play in hair loss while investigating their role in skin health.
The researchers found a way to temporarily remove Tregs in mice.
That was when they made the surprising discovery.
" We quickly noticed that the shaved patches of hair never grew back, and we thought, 'Hmm, now that's interesting'.
"We realised we had to delve into this further."
Further experiments showed Tregs trigger the stem cells that active hair follicles.
Dr Rosenblaum said: "It's as if the skin stem cells and Tregs have co-evolved so that the Tregs not only guard the stem cells against inflammation but also take part in their regenerative work.
Now the stem cells rely on the Tregs completely to know when it’s time to start regenerating."
The Californian team's discovery comes after experts at UT Southwestern in Dallas identified a protein which is vital to hair growth.
They too stumbled upon their findings, while researching a rare condition neurofibromatosis type 1, that causes non-cancerous tumours to grow along the nerves in the body.
Meanwhile, a study last September revealed the drug ruxolitinib could offer hope to millions suffering alopecia areta.
The drug was found to stimulate regrowth of hair in around 75 per cent of patients