Nelson Vergel
Founder, ExcelMale.com
Two oral drugs—approved by the FDA for inflammation in blood diseases (ruxolitinib) and rheumatoid arthritis (tofacitinib)—grow hair when slathered on skin, report surprised Columbia University researchers in Science Advances.
If future work supports this, the hair-loss community could have new drugs sooner—and cheaper— than usual.
The Columbia team noticed by accident the topical effect of the above drugs—JAK inhibitors—when studying an autoimmune condition leading to hair loss. They had given the drugs orally to tamp down the autoimmune response—and new hair sprouted.
But during that study, the team noticed mice grew hairier when the drugs were applied topically. Could such drugs work directly on hair follicles, not just on the immune system, making them valuable in fighting all kinds of baldness?
After trying the above JAK inhibitors topically on mice sans autoimmune disease, they had the tantalizing start of an answer.
“By using [the above] JAK inhibitors to lower the level of JAK-STAT signaling, we found the compounds could activate the hair growth phase (anagen)” in mice, senior author and Columbia geneticist, Angela Christiano, Ph.D., told Drug Discovery & Development. “In addition to activating the mouse hair cycle, we found that JAK inhibitors could also extend the growth phase in human follicles.”
http://www.dddmag.com/articles/2015...et_cid=4931130&et_rid=449166332&type=headline
If future work supports this, the hair-loss community could have new drugs sooner—and cheaper— than usual.
The Columbia team noticed by accident the topical effect of the above drugs—JAK inhibitors—when studying an autoimmune condition leading to hair loss. They had given the drugs orally to tamp down the autoimmune response—and new hair sprouted.
But during that study, the team noticed mice grew hairier when the drugs were applied topically. Could such drugs work directly on hair follicles, not just on the immune system, making them valuable in fighting all kinds of baldness?
After trying the above JAK inhibitors topically on mice sans autoimmune disease, they had the tantalizing start of an answer.
“By using [the above] JAK inhibitors to lower the level of JAK-STAT signaling, we found the compounds could activate the hair growth phase (anagen)” in mice, senior author and Columbia geneticist, Angela Christiano, Ph.D., told Drug Discovery & Development. “In addition to activating the mouse hair cycle, we found that JAK inhibitors could also extend the growth phase in human follicles.”
http://www.dddmag.com/articles/2015...et_cid=4931130&et_rid=449166332&type=headline
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