Hair growth problems? This new study might be a game changer for people suffering from baldness. Recently, a group of scientists discovered some promising drugs that may aid some people's problem with baldness. What's more, these drugs are already out in the market and safe for use.
Columbia University Medical Center researchers found that by stopping this certain family of enzyme, named Janus kinase (JAK), which can be found in hair follicles, hair growth restoration can be possible.
One of the researchers, Dr Angela M. Christiano discovered this breakthrough after conducting a clinical trial on mice and human hair follicles. The team found that drugs with JAK inhibitors, when directly applied on the skin, could enhance rapid and flourishing hair growth.
As mentioned earlier, among these inhibitors that are legally approved by the US Food and Drug Administration are ruxolitimib and tofacitinib. The former is indicated for blood-related diseases, while the latter is to cure rheumatoid arthritis.
"What we've found is promising," Christiano said. "Though we haven't yet shown it is effective for male pattern baldness... more work needs to be done to test formulations of JAK inhibitors specially made for the scalp to determine whether they can induce hair growth in humans."
The discovery took place after the team was studying for an autoimmune disease called alopecia areata where JAK inhibitors reportedly ceased autoimmune invasion. In addition, they further found out that individuals taking the drugs in tablet form were able to gain back hair growth.
Interestingly, in an animal experiment, mice treated with the same drugs, but this time was applied directly on the skin, had faster and more hair growth. This led the team to conclude that the enzyme is able to awaken hair follicles that is in a resting phase. The 5-day treatment of mice resulted in hair growth in a span of 10 days compared with the untreated mice with no signs of hair growth at all.
This study gives light to people suffering from baldness and to give remedy to alopecia. The research is published in the Science Advances journals.
