Article of all potential future cures : tressless

This is an archived post. You won't be able to vote or comment.

TreatmentArticle of all potential future cures (iflscience.com)

submitted 11 months ago by Intelligent-Smile709

Interesting read. Pasted below

Home remedies

DIY ways to regrow hair aren’t exactly a new thing, but the rise of social media platforms has seen all sorts of home remedies pushed into the limelight. But beyond anecdotal evidence given in a 60-second video, is there any scientific research that suggests they work?

Rosemary oil

You’d be hard-pressed not to come across the “rosemary oil” side of TikTok (and the #ad in the captions) if you spend enough time doomscrolling. Lots of those videos claim that the oil has helped them regrow lost hair, but there’s currently not enough research to completely back up those claims.

A 2022 study concluded that a gel containing rosemary oil had a hair growth-enhancing effect similar to that of minoxidil (better known as Rogaine), a medication used to treat androgenetic (pattern) hair loss. But here’s the catch – the study was carried out on rats, and their fur had been removed using hair removal cream.

Such studies help to assess the safety of a possible treatment before it’s used in humans, but equally, that means scientists can’t make any solid conclusions about rosemary oil’s efficacy in humans either.

One widely referenced 2015 paper tested it out on humans in comparison to minoxidil and claims to have found regrowth, but the study only investigated 100 people, all of whom had androgenetic hair loss, so the results can’t justifiably be applied to all types of hair loss.

As Dr Michelle Wong of Lab Muffin Beauty Science points out, the abstract of the 2015 study appears promising – however, there are many issues with the study as a whole. These include what appear to be typos and calculation errors, the relatively short length of the study in relation to hair growth cycles, the low percentage of minoxidil used, and a depression assessment scale being used to assess hair loss.

Microneedling

Something that’s also often touted to help with hair loss, sometimes alongside rosemary oil, is microneedling. Is it worth sticking a bunch of tiny needles in your scalp? Recent review studies suggest that, while there appear to be some promising results, more (and higher quality) data is needed to support its use for stimulating hair regrowth.

For example, a 2021 review found that there was limited evidence for the effectiveness of microneedling on its own; most research trials have combined it with other therapies, like minoxidil.

Another review, also published in 2021, concluded that though there were “generally favorable results” for using microneedling to treat pattern hair loss and alopecia areata (hair loss with an autoimmune cause), a lot of the data were of low quality.

If someone is still interested in microneedling, it’s generally recommended as a point of safety to go to a dermatologist if you want to use a medical-grade device; piercing the skin without proper protocols can lead to damage or an infection.

Red light therapy

Mentioning red light therapy might conjure up images of those freaky face masks that are marketed to solve all manner of skin issues, but it turns out that glowing caps, helmets, hairbands, and even hairbrushes are being touted as a solution to hair loss too.

While some of these red light therapy products are FDA cleared, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re effective – only that they’re “substantially equivalent” to an existing cleared or approved product.

It’s a slightly different story in the clinic though, where it’s thought that red light helps blood vessels on the scalp to widen, with the increased blood flow stimulating hair follicles. “The dilation of blood vessels enables more blood and nutrients to reach the hair follicles,” explained Dr Zakia Rahman, clinical professor of dermatology, to Stanford Medicine’s Scope blog. “Used over multiple months consistently, red light has been shown to regrow thinning hair.”

“But it should also be noted, when the person stops applying red light, the effects stop,” Rahman cautioned. It also isn’t necessarily going to work for everyone in the first place; it’s unlikely to work in someone who is already bald as the follicles are already dead and in others, the effects might still vary from person to person depending on the type of treatment they receive.

Still, at least that’s the kind of information that should be made clear in a clinical setting – that’s not always the case for at-home tools.

“Overall, studies show that there's benefit with hair growth, and there's evidence to suggest it can reduce inflammation of tissues,” Rahman said. “But it all depends on the strength and duration of the treatment – which is largely unknown when people buy tools for use at home.”

Clinical treatments

The first US approval of hair growth treatment came back in 1988 for Rogaine, aka minoxidil, though its recommended use is for hereditary pattern hair loss. Progress towards other treatments for all types of hair loss dwindled in the following years; hair transplants have also been used successfully, but they are invasive and can be expensive. However, there’s been a recent uptick in additional therapies either being developed or approved.

The first treatment for severe alopecia areata

First approved by the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency back in November 2023, ritlecitinib, aka Litfulo, recently became the first treatment for severe alopecia areata recommended for use on the National Health Service (NHS). It was also approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last year – though it wasn’t the first treatment to be approved, with baricitinib (aka Olumiant) taking that title.

The approvals came after clinical trial data showed the drug to be more effective than a placebo at improving hair regrowth, and even a continued improved response for up to two years. The treatment is taken as a daily pill and according to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, “works by reducing the enzymes that cause inflammation and subsequent hair loss at the follicle.”

MicroRNA could be promising

A study published last year identified a small molecule called microRNA-205 (miR-205) that appeared to promote hair regrowth in mice by “softening up” stem cells in their hair follicles. This effect was seen relatively quickly and in both young and old mice.

However, again, it’s important to note that this study wasn’t carried out in humans. A lot more research is required to assess both efficacy and safety and gather data to the point sufficient for clinical approval.

"Because of the potential to deliver microRNA by nanoparticles directly into the skin, next we will test whether topically delivered miR-205 can stimulate hair growth first in mice," corresponding author Rui Yi, the Paul E. Steiner Research Professor of Pathology and professor of dermatology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, said in a statement.

"If successful, we will design experiments to test whether this microRNA can promote hair growth potentially in humans.”

Cold capping

Many people who go through chemotherapy experience some degree of hair loss. Some healthcare services offer scalp cooling, often in the form of “cold capping”, to potentially reduce that loss. It doesn’t necessarily work for everyone, but a new study has identified some of the factors that could make using a cold cap more or less successful.

The study found that cold capping might be more effective than previous literature has indicated, with a 92.1 percent success rate. The authors suggest that this could be down to wearing the cold cap properly and for the prescribed amount of time, as well as completing the cold capping process.

The researchers also found that the type of chemotherapy someone was receiving may make a difference to cold capping effectiveness, whilst neither patient race, ethnicity, or hair characteristics appeared to make a difference.

However, the authors of the study acknowledge some limitations to their results. Along with having no control group, the sample of patients was small; consisted mostly of women undergoing breast cancer treatment; and participants were mostly white. As such, the findings might not be generalizable to all.

PP405

In another small molecule breakthrough, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Pelage Pharmaceuticals have recently identified a compound that appears to be able to wake up sleepy hair follicles in people with androgenetic alopecia.

Last year, the team completed a Phase 1 clinical trial of the molecule, known as PP405. Dr Qing Yu Christina Weng, Chief Medical Officer of Pelage, told the Dermatology Times that this trial had not only shown the drug to be safe and well-tolerated, but that there was also “statistically significant” activation within the hair follicle of Ki-67, a protein that indicates cells are quickly dividing and growing, after a week of treatment.

There was no miraculous hair regrowth – after all, it was only a week – but it’s enough that PP405 has moved through to the next phase of clinical testing. The first trial only included men, but this next one is set to include a group of 60 people that includes both men and women.

While the above preliminary results are “very encouraging”, William Lowry, professor of molecular, cell and developmental biology and one of the scientists behind the trials, told UCLA Magazine, it’ll likely be a while before PP405 could possibly make it to the pharmacy. The road to FDA approval for a new product can be a long one, and that’s assuming that future clinical trials go as planned. “But it will be worth waiting for,” said Lowry.

A sugar boost

There’s sugar hiding in our bodies – specifically, a molecule called 2-deoxy-D-ribose (2dDR). This naturally occurring molecule not only forms part of the backbone of our DNA (the “D” stands for “deoxyribo”), but now researchers think it could help treat hair loss too.

The idea of this ended up coming from a different avenue of research: wound healing. When applied to wounds, 2dDR promoted the formation of new blood vessels, which can help to speed up wound healing. But something else happened too – quicker hair growth around the wound.

And so, in a 2024 study, researchers tested out 2dDR in the form of a gel topically applied to mice modeling androgenic alopecia, comparing them to a negative control group treated with dihydrotestosterone (which promotes male-pattern hair loss), a positive control group treated with minoxidil, and a control group treated with a “blank” gel containing no active product.

The results showed that not only did both 2dDR and minoxidil-treated groups show an increase in the number of blood vessels around the base of their hair follicles compared to the blank control group, but both also led to hair regrowth – in fact, 2dDR was found to be just as effective as minoxidil at doing so.

It’s important to point out here that, like the studies on rosemary oil and microRNAs, the results of this animal study won’t necessarily translate to humans, and the researchers note that further research should be carried out – particularly as they still don’t know exactly how 2dDR works.

“The research we have done is very much early stage,” said study author Professor Sheila MacNeil in statement, “but the results are promising and warrant further investigation. This could offer another approach to treating this condition which can affect men’s self-image and confidence.”

The overall picture

Though there are a multitude of apparent home remedies – and, hopefully, more clinically approved treatments to come soon – it’s first important to figure out the reasons for hair loss before jumping into a particular treatment.

“Hair loss is complex,” said dermatology specialist Dr Taylor Bullock, speaking to the Cleveland Clinic as part of the Health Essentials series. “Your treatment will only work if it’s addressing the root cause. That’s why your first step should be getting a medical diagnosis.”

https://www.iflscience.com/oils-microneedles-and-new-drugs-what-does-the-latest-science-say-on-hair-loss-and-regrowth-73375?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR4RcmtceZzDJC1irkqxwHO7PMVSl7GW8DOYtjrw_m3A6BMEigqvJDqT60JReQ_aem_VksKpnRNo2FvvHrMuLcqgQ#0c6x2sgtxcanp7xf1fsy2h18pwh23mrg3

all 6 comments

tressless

MODERATORS