SoylentNews

takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

Potential new cure found for baldness [bbc.com]

A potential new cure for baldness has been discovered using a drug originally intended to treat osteoporosis.

Enhanced hair growth is a side-effect of a different drug, cyclosporine A, used to treat autoimmune diseases. And researchers found it also inhibited a protein, SFRP1, that blocks a molecular pathway, WNT, vital for the growth of many tissues, including hair.

The new cure uses another drug, Way-316606, that was designed to inhibit SFRP1 as treatment for osteoporosis.

Project leader Dr Nathan Hawkshaw said it could "make a real difference to people who suffer from hair loss".

Also at CNBC [cnbc.com].

Identifying novel strategies for treating human hair loss disorders: Cyclosporine A suppresses the Wnt inhibitor, SFRP1, in the dermal papilla of human scalp hair follicles [plos.org] (open, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.2003705) (DX [doi.org])

Original Submission